The influence of the type of loading and conditions of lateral support on the lateral buckling of cantilever beams is examined. In particular, it is shown that loads applied at the level of the top flange at points free to twist represent a particularly severe condition for cantilevers. The influence of various types of restraint at the tip or at the fulcrum in the case of continuous members is shown to be considerable, large increases in stability being possible. In all cases results are
presented in the form of a series of simple expressions which permit the rapid calculation of good estimates of the critical load. The problem of specifying effective
length factors for use in current methods of design is considered in some detail and two methods are proposed for their determination.
D.A. Nethercot