Abstract
Tapered H-shaped beams have been designed in steel frame structures for reason of advantage of a more efficient utilization of structural materials. On the other hand, the section stiffness of tapered H-shaped beam, such as St. Venant's torsion constant and the warping constant，are decreased along the beam's axis. For that reason, it is more important to investigate the elastic lateral buckling behavior of tapered H-shaped beam than that of uniform H-shaped beam. Considering the above, H-shaped beam with web depth tapered is the subject of this research, and the energy method is used for lateral buckling analysis. Boundary conditions and end moment ratio are included in analytical parameters.
