A10 - Introduction to Column Buckling 1

Introduction of Column Buckling

Structures subjected to compressive (and other types o loads! may
become unstable and buckle" In ideali#ed situations$ buckling is
the sudden onset o very large displacements at some critical load
(generally transverse to the member! and sometimes %ith a
corresponding decrease in load-carrying capacity" In other
situations$ buckling may occur more gradually& but as the load
approaches the critical load displacements %ill increase at a rapid
rate" Belo% are e'amples o buckling situations(
Consider a column i'ed on one end and subjected
to a unia'ial compressive load )" *hen ) is small$
the column shortens a'ially (is compressed!"
*hen the a'ial compressive orce ) reaches a
critical value
cr
P
$ the column suddenly e'periences
a lateral displacement$ i"e"$ it buckles"
A10 - Introduction to Column Buckling +
A thin$ deep cantilever beam
is subjected to a vertical end
load )" As long as the load )
is belo% a critical value
cr
P
$
the beam section remains
vertical (motion is do%n%ard
only! and resists the bending
action o )"
At the critical value
cr
P
$ the beam
%ill t%ist and bend side%ard (out
o the vertical plane!"
,he point at %hich the structure
buckles is called an instability
point" At or just belo% the critical
value o the load$ any small disturbance can cause the structure to
change position as sho%n in the sketch o ) vs" displacement"
side%ard displacement$ t%ist
P
cr
P P
idealized
actual
A10 - Introduction to Column Buckling -
A amiliar soda can is sho%n belo%" *hen the applied load ) is
suiciently small$ the vertical %all remains cylindrical and is
compressed uniormly in the vertical direction (ig" a!"
I ) becomes too
large (reaches the
critical value!$ the
position becomes
unstable" A small
disturbance causes
the vertical %alls to
bend in and out in a
comple' pattern as
sho%n in ig" b
(buckling or
crumpling occurs!"
,he top may even rotate relative to the bottom"
A10 - Introduction to Column Buckling .
A some%hat dierent type o instability is sho%n belo% or a
shallo% curved arch or dome"
As the load )
is increased$
the top o the
arch
displaces
do%n%ard in
a some%hat
linear ashion (ig" a!"
/o%ever$ at some critical value o )$
the arch %ill suddenly snap through to
the coniguration sho%n in ig" b" ,his
is called snap buckling" At this critical
load$ the arch (top! suddenly moves
vertically rom displacement A to B
%ith 01 increase in load )"
vertical displacement
)
snap-through
A B
A10 - Introduction to Column Buckling 2
,he investigation o structural instability and buckling is a diicult
subject" *e shall consider only the case o the cantilevered
column discussed previously" Beore considering this stability
problem$ it is necessary to derive the e3uations governing the
bending o a beam subjected to longitudinal as %ell as transverse
loads" Consider a ree-body o a beam %ith a transverse load 3('!
and a constant a'ial orce ) as sho%n belo%"
P
P
x
y
( ! v x
M M +
M
P
P P +
V V +
V
x
v
( ! p x
p x
Summing orces vertically and taking moments about the center o
the dierential element yields(
A10 - Introduction to Column Buckling 4
+ +
0
( ! 0
x x
V V V p x
M M M V V V P v

+ +
+ + + + +
5ivide by x and take the limit 0 x to obtain
0
0
dV
p
dx
dM dv
V P
dx dx

+ +
Assume that the bending moment is responsible or the transverse
deormation o the beam& i"e"$ %e %ill neglect the eect o shear on
the deormations (same as 6078 +1. and A681 -0.!" ,hen$
+
+
d v
EI M
dx

Substituting into the moment e3uation gives
A10 - Introduction to Column Buckling 9
+
+
0
d d v dv
EI V P
dx dx
dx
_
+ +


,
Solving or : and substituting in the shear e3uation gives
+ +
+ +
d d v d dv
EI P p
dx dx
dx dx
_
_
+



,
,
0o% consider the cantilevered column
%ith only an a'ial compressive orce )"
Boundary conditions or this problem are
given by(
0
0
0
v
at x
dv
dx

0

0
M
at x L
V

x
y
L
P
A10 - Introduction to Column Buckling ;
,he boundary conditions at '<= may be e'pressed in terms o
v
by
substituting the boundary conditions into the second o e3uations $
and $ into to obtain(
+
+
+
+
0

0
d v
M EI
dx
at x L
d d v dv
V P
dx dx
dx

;
_

+



,

>or constant 6I and )$ the governing dierential e3uation
becomes
. +
. +
0
d v d v
EI P
dx dx
+
*e must no% ind the solution to the dierential e3uation subject
to the boundary conditions at '<0 ?e3" @ and '<= ?e3" @" *e note
that v<0 is a solution or any value o )" /o%ever$ %e are not
A10 - Introduction to Column Buckling A
interested in this trivial solution" ,he theory o dierential
e3uations states that %e must have . independent constants in the
general solution to the dierential e3uation (there are . boundary
conditions!" A possible solution or
( ! v x
is a combination o
polynomial and trigonometric terms(
1 + - .
( ! sin cos
P P
v x c c x c x c x
EI EI
+ + +
Bou can veriy that this assumed solution satisies the dierential
e3uation" Substituting into the . boundary conditions ?+ boundary
conditons at '<0 in and + at '<= in @ gives the ollo%ing(
A10 - Introduction to Column Buckling 10
1 .
+ -
- .
+
0
0
sin cos 0
0
c c
P
c c
EI
P P P P
c L c L
EI EI EI EI
c P
+
+

0ote that all the right-hand sides are e3ual to 0& hence$ a possible
solution is that
1 + - .
0 c c c c
" In this case$
( ! 0 v x
is the
solution or e3uilibrium o the cantilevered column" ,his %ould
correspond to simple compression o the column %ith no side%ays
motion" /o%ever$ %e consider this once again a trivial solution"
*e need to ind another solutionC
63uations are in act an eigenvalue problemC
A10 - Introduction to Column Buckling 11
1
+
-
.
1 0 0 1
0
0 1 0
0
0
0 0 sin cos
0
0 0 0
c
P
c
EI
c
P P P P
L L
c
EI EI EI EI
P
1
1

1

1

' ; ' ;
1

1


1

1
]
,he solution o the eigenvalue problem re3uires that the
determinant o the .'. coeicient matri' by e3ual to #ero %hich
%ill yield the solution or ) satisying this condition" 0ote that %e
%ill obtain an ininite number o solutions due to the repeating
nature o the sin and cos trigonometric unctions" An easier
approach is as ollo%s" 8eerring to e3uation $ the ourth e3uation
implies that
+
0 c
is a possible solution (or 0 P !" *ith
+
0 c
$
the second e3uation implies that
-
0 c
is a possible solution" ,he
irst e3uation implies that
. 1
c c
" /ence$ the third e3uation
becomes simply(
A10 - Introduction to Column Buckling 1+
1
cos 0
P P
c L
EI EI

,he last e3uation can be satisied by setting
1
0 c
$ %hich is a
trivial solution again$ or by having a value o ) such that
cos 0
P
L
EI

,he smallest value o ) satisying this condition is
+
+
.
EI
P
L

Substituting this value o ) back into

( ! v x
gives
1
( ! 1 cos
+
x
v x c
L

_


,
A10 - Introduction to Column Buckling 1-
/ence$ %e have ound the critical value o )$ and the shape that the
beam bends into or this critical load" 0ote that the value o
1
c

cannot be determined" ,his is the nature o an eigenvalue problem"
Since the solution o an eigenvalue problem re3uires that %e orce
the determinant o the coeicient matri' to be e3ual to #ero$ this is
e3uivalent to making the e3uations linearly dependent" =inearly
dependent e3uations can only be solved by assuming a solution or
one (or more! o the unkno%ns (cDs in this case!& and the solution
%ill al%ays be in terms o the assumed c value" 0ote that %hen
cr
P P <
$ the transverse delection is #ero" ,ransverse delection
occurs only %hen
cr
P P
"
/ence$ %e have or the cantilevered column the critical value o )(
+
+
( !
.
cr
EI
P for cantilevered column
L

>or other end conditions$ %e can ollo% the same procedure to

obtain(
A10 - Introduction to Column Buckling 1.
A10 - Introduction to Column Buckling 12
>or a'ial loads that are not perectly centered$ %e obtain an
entirely dierent result" Consider the case %hen ) is oset by an
amount

(
,he problem may be %orked as beore$ e'cept that %e treat the
problem as having a perectly centered load ) plus a moment
o
M P
as sho%n above" *e ind that the third boundary
condition in e3uations is modiied so that the right-hand side is
e3ual to
E
o
M EI
" >ollo%ing the same procedure$ %e ind that the
transverse delection is given by(
x
y
L
P

x
y
L
P
=
o
M P

A10 - Introduction to Column Buckling 14

sec 1 sec 1
o
M P P
L L
P EI EI

_ _


, ,
)lotting ) vs" gives the plot on
the right" >or small values o )$ the
transverse delection is very nearly
#ero" >or e'ample$ < %hen
.
A
crit
P P <
%here
+
+
.
crit
EI
P
L

is
the value obtained or a perectly
centered load ) on a cantilevered
column" As ) approaches the
critical load$ the delection
becomes very large" Because a'ial
orces are rarely perectly centered$
one %ill al%ays ind some amount
o transverse delection occurring beore ) reaches the critical
load"