A generalized method for shear correction factors of arbitrary thin-walled sections

Shear deformation may significantly affect the structural behaviours, especially for the structural members with small span-to-depth ratios. It is vital to consider the shear effects in the Direct Analysis Method (DAM) of thin-walled structures such that only the section capacity check is required in the evaluation of both member and system stability. However, there is lack of a general method to determine the shear correction factors of thin-walled cross-sections in various shapes and as a result DAM cannot be applied to the structures adopting these cross-sections. This paper proposes an innovative one-dimensional warping element model method to compute the shear correction factors of arbitrary thin-walled sections such as single open and closed sections, built-up sections, and large box sections with stiffeners. Also, the thin-walled cross-sections with non-uniform thickness can be considered by the proposed method. Several examples are investigated to validate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method against the analytical solution, conventional warping area element method and section analysis in ANSYS. Thus, this work provides a simple and practical method for direct analysis of thin-walled structures made of complex cross-sections with consideration of shear deformation.