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Strength limit state
Effective length factor
• Isolated columns
• Columns in Braced Frames
• Columns in Sway Frames
Isolated Columns
Effective length factor
For column design or checking we generally use the effective length Le (although
the above example has shown how ln can be determined from the elastic buckling
load determined by a computer program or from charts in text books).
Le ke L
L is the column length;
ke is the EFFECTIVE LENGTH FACTOR
Effective length factor – isolated column
l L l L/ 2 NE l 0.7L NE l L/ 2 NE l 2L NE
NE
l L
l
L l L L L l l
l
Theoretical
ke 1.0 0.5 0.7 0.5 2.0
AS4100
ke 1.0 0.5 0.85 0.7 2.2
Columns in Frames
• Braced
• Sway
Effective length factor
More generally a column may be in a braced frame or a sway frame.
Elastic spring
6 restraints
against
rotation and
translation
5 B 4
B
2 A 3 Elastic spring
restraints
against
1 A rotation
A is restrained by Column A‐1 and beams A‐2 and A‐3
B is restrained by column B‐6 and beams B‐5 and B‐4
Relative end stiffnesses
I L
At end A A columns
I L
modifying factor
e beams
I L
and similarly at end B B columns
I L
e beams
ke is then obtained from Fig. 4.6.3.3 of AS4100.
The values of e are given on the next slide.
Relative end stiffnesses
FIXED BASE PINNED BASE
column column
B B
beam beam
A A
A 0.6 A 10