For members used in plastically designed structures, the complete load-deformation response is of interest. Experiments on these members must be especially designed to accommodate the large deformations involved and the out-of-plane forces which are developed during the test. This paper summarizes techniques which have been successfully used to test beams, beam-columns, and restrained columns. The loading, bracing, and instrumentation systems are described, and the difficulties encountered during the test are discussed.

This report contains a description of fourteen experiments on wide-flange beams braced by purlins. These experiments were performed to study the bracing requirements of plastically designed beams.

Synopsis. In this paper a method is proposed for the solution of the inelastic lateral buckling problem of as-rolled wide-flange beams subjected to equal end moments. The method is based on the determination of the reduction in the lateral and the torsional stiffnesses due to yielding. The effect of initial residual stresses is included in the calculations. An 'exact' analytical procedure is worked out for several examples at first, and then a simplified formula is proposed which reduces the computational work considerably. Currently used empirical design procedures are checked against the results, and a possible modification of one of them is discussed.