Analytical study of buckling profile web stability

Elements used in steel structures may be considered as an assembly of number of thin flat walls. Local buckling of these members can limit the buckling capacity of axial load resistance or flexural strength. We can avoid a premature failure, caused by effects of local buckling, by limiting the value of the wall slenderness which depend on its critical buckling stress. According to Eurocode 3, the buckling stress is calculated for an internal wall assuming that the latter is a simply supported plate on its contour. This assumption considers, without further requirement, that the two orthogonal walls to this wall are sufficiently rigid to constitute fixed supports to it. In this paper, we focus on webs of steel profiles that are internal walls delimited by flanges profiles. The objective is to determine, for a given web, flanges dimensions from which the latter can be considered as simple support for this web.