Buckling of bracing members

    
a) Buckling of a bracing member in a storage rack (Courtesy of Dr A Mann, Jacobs) b) Buckling of two bracing members in a building
Fig. 10-9: Buckling of bracing members

Steel bracing members are normally slender and are not ideal for use in compression. Therefore they are usually designed to transmit tension forces only. For cross-braced panels which are often used to resist lateral loads, one bracing member will be in tension and the other in compression. When the loading is applied in the opposite direction, the member previously in tension will be subjected to compression and the other member becomes a tension member.

Fig. 10-9a shows one of two bracing members in a panel of a storage rack which has buckled. Comparing the value of the material stored and cost of the bracing members, the use of more substantial bracing members would have easily been justified. Fig. 10-9b shows two buckled bracing members in a building