Optimal pick point location is discovered in order to have the full buckling capacity of a suspended, non-prismatic, singly symmetric plate girders. The results show that a significant increase in stability occurs at the pick point location of 0.25L, where L is the span length. This recommendation can be utilized in the field to save construction cost and time because of how simplistic it is to use. A finite element software, ABAQUS 6.14, is used to determine the buckling capacities at different pick point locations and of different cross sections. The dimension of the cross sections and span lengths for the research is based upon a case study.

Stainless steel has garnered attention as an alternative structural material to conventional carbon steel due to its corrosion resistance properties and aesthetic appearance. Of interest are single angles, which are frequently used in trusses, transmission towers, and as bracing diaphragms. When subjected to compression, knowledge concerning the behavior, analysis, and design of stainless steel single angles is very limited. This thesis addresses the behavior of duplex stainless steel single equal-leg angles subject to concentric compressive loading. Two complementary approaches are used in this study, the first of which was experimental and consisted of conducting 33 full-scale buckling tests on S32003 duplex stainless steel single equal-leg angle components. Angles specimens had slenderness ratios ranging from 35 to 350 and leg width-to-thickness ratios of 7.5 to 12.3. In the second approach, computational models that accounted for material nonlinearity, material anisotropy, and geometric out-of-straightness were developed and validated using the experimentally obtained test results. These models were subsequently used to perform numerical buckling experiments to shed light on the behavior of axially loaded compression duplex stainless steel single angles for a wide range of practical leg width-to-thickness ratios. Results from the full-scale tests and from the numerical models are shown to correlate well with the classical mechanics-based formulae, which considers nonlinear stress-strain relationships, for predicting flexural and flexural-torsional buckling strengths of singly symmetric stainless steel members. Finally, design criteria in the form of load and resistance factor design (LRFD) with a reliability index of 3 for buckling limit states are proposed for possible adoption in future US national standards.