Web Tapered Frame Design Based on AISC-ASD 9th, Appendix F

To achieve greater economy in material use, web-tapered steel members, where deeper cross-sections are used within the regions subjected to larger internal forces, are commonly employed within steel structures. However, the methods provided in current structural steel design specifications for the instability assessment of web-tapered steel members are based largely on those developed for prismatic steel members, often leading to overly conservative estimations of their ultimate strengths and thus limiting the efficiency gains achieved through their use.