Design of Single Angles Bent About the Major Principal Axis

Hot rolled steel angles are frequently used in applications wherein their flexural strength must be quantified. While flexural applications of angle members frequently involves bending within the plane of one of the angle legs, other bending scenarios can arise. One other similar scenario involves bending a single angle member about its major principal centroidal axis as shown in Figure 1. A practical example of when this type of bending may occur involves the case of sign and billboard structures in which an equal leg single angle member may be specified for the girts that support the face of the sign. The effects of gravity loading from the face of the sign result in major axis bending of the girts. In such instances it is obviously important to understand the major axis strength characteristics of the single angle members. \Nonlinear finite element modeling techniques have been employed herein for the study of equal-leg, hot-rolled steel single angle members bent about the major principal centroidal axis. Results from the modeling indicate that a lower bound design approach can be encapsulated in the form of two, linear, nominal moment predictive equations that depend on the angle leg slenderness and the angle beam overall slenderness.