Six groups of austenitic 022Cr19Ni10 stainless steel bending specimens with three types of cross-sectional forms were used to study the impact of V-stiffeners on the failure mode and flexural behavior of stainless steel lipped channel beams. These cross-sectional forms included V-stiffeners in the web compression zone at 1/3 height near the compressed flange and no V-stiffeners on the flange, V-stiffeners in the web compression zone at 1/3 height near the compressed flange and V-stiffeners in the middle of the compressed flange, and V-stiffeners on the web at 1/2 height and V-stiffeners in the middle of the compressed and tensioned flange. The findings show that the specimens without a V-stiffener on the flange and with a V-stiffener in the web compression zone at 1/3 height near the compressed flange have a lower ultimate bearing capacity as a result of local–distortional interaction buckling. The test specimen’s flexural bearing capacity will rise with an increase in web height under the same stiffening form and other fixed cross-sectional parameters. Furthermore, the additional V-stiffeners in the middle of the flange effectively lower the width-to-thickness ratio of the stainless steel specimen with a flange that has been V-stiffened, thus increasing the specimen’s bending bearing capacity by 13% and emphasizing the distortional buckling issue. Buckling first manifests in the compression flange and is caused by the stress evolution on the web of the bending specimen, which is constrained by the V-stiffeners. The specimen’s capacity to withstand bending loads can be improved more successfully through the use of V-stiffeners in the web compression zone at 1/3 height close to the compressed flange and V-stiffeners in the middle of the compressed flange. For the test data, a finite element simulation was established, and the results are generally consistent with the test results.

The failure mode of thin-walled C-channel beams typically manifests as premature local buckling of the compression flange, leading to insufficient utilization of material strength in both the flange and the web. To address this issue, this study adopts the approach of increasing the number of bends to reinforce the flange and adding V-shaped stiffeners in the middle of the web to reduce the width-to-thickness ratio of the plate elements, thereby delaying local buckling and allowing for greater plastic deformation. However, the challenge lies in the irregular cross-sectional shape and complex buckling patterns. Therefore, this paper aims to explore a suitable cross-sectional form to expand the application of stainless steel members. Subsequently, three-point bending tests were conducted on the optimally designed stainless C-channel beam with folded flanges and mid-web stiffeners. The finite element simulation results were compared and analyzed with the experimental results to validate the model’s effectiveness. After verifying the correctness of the finite element model, this study conducted numerical parameterization research to investigate the effects of the shear span ratio, complex edge stiffeners, web height–thickness ratio, and V-shaped stiffener size on the shear performance of stainless steel folded flange C-beams. The results show that changing the shear span ratio has a significant impact on the shear capacity and vertical deflection deformation of components; increasing the web height–thickness ratio can enhance the shear capacity of the component; elevating the V-shaped stiffener size can slightly improve the shear capacity of components; and for the stainless steel C-shaped beam with folded flanges and intermediate stiffening webs, adding edge stiffeners cannot remarkably promote the shear capacity of the component.