Proceedings of the Annual Stability Conference Structural Stability Research Council Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, May 10-14, 2011 Elastic Buckling Simplified Methods for Cold-Formed Columns and Beams with Edge-Stiffened Holes Grey, C.N. 1 , Moen, C.D. 2 Abstract This paper presents a suite of prediction methods for approximating the elastic buckling properties of cold-formed steel columns and beams with edge-stiffened holes. The simplified methods supplement recently developed elastic buckling prediction procedures supporting the extension of the American Iron and Steel Institute’s Direct Strength Method to members with holes. Weighted average section properties are used with classical column stability equations to predict flexural and flexural-torsional buckling loads and beam lateral-torsional buckling moments including the influence of edge-stiffened holes. Cross-sectional instability of lipped C- sections including stiffened holes is evaluated with eigen-buckling analysis and the finite strip method. Critical elastic distortional buckling is shown to be minimally affected by the presence of stiffened holes when edge stiffener dimensions around web holes are sized to replace bending stiffness lost by the removal of web material at a hole. Finite strip analysis of the net section at a stiffened hole is performed to evaluate local buckling. The simplified methods are validated with thin shell finite element eigen-buckling parameter studies where the edge-stiffened holes are explicitly modeled. 1 Graduate Research Assistant, Virginia Tech (cgrey@vt.edu) 2 Assistant Professor, Virginia Tech (cmoen@vt.edu)