Lateral Buckling of Beams

This paper is intended to provide a brief summary of information that may be used as background material in writing specifications for the design of beams and girders whose strength is controlled by lateral buckling. A general formula is developed for elastic buckling strength of beams, with coefficients depending principally on the conditions of loading and support. Values of the coefficients in this formula are tabulated for a wide variety of conditions of loading and support. The relationship between theoretical buckling strength and experimental results is discussed. Various design formulas that have been proposed for beams are compared with each other and with experimental and theoretical beam strengths.