Improvement of the interaction formulae for beam columns in Eurocode 3

This paper presents a new proposal for beam-column interaction formulae initially based on second-order in-plane elastic theory, as an alternative to those proposed in the Eurocode 3 pre-standard [1]. It has been derived according to the following requirements: theoretical background, clear physical meaning, consistency with the other related formulae of Eurocode 3 and accuracy. Besides that, the suggested formulae cover all required continuities: between the cross-section classes, from plasticity to elasticity as slenderness and axial force increase, and continuity between all the individual stability member checks and cross-section verifications. Further to the presentation of the formulae and their background, the good agreement of the proposal is shown through an extensive comparison with more than 15,000 results of finite element numerical simulations. (C) 2002 Civil-Comp Ltd. and Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.