Faculty : Civil And Environment

Engineering

Page

01

Department : Structure And Material

Engineering
Title :

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BUCKLING OF STRUTS
1.0

OBJECTIVE
1.1
1.2

2.0

To examine how shear force varies with an increasing point load

To examine how shear force varies at the cut position of the beam for
various loading condition

LEARNING OUTCOME
2.1
2.2

The application the engineering knowledge in practical application

To enhance technical competency in structural engineering through
laboratory application.
To communicate effectively in group
To identify problem, solving and finding out appropriate solution through
laboratory application

2.3
2.4

3.0

INTRODUCTION

4.0

11/07/2005
5/7/2005

A compresive member can fail in two ways. The first is via rupture due to
the direct stress and the second is by an elastic mode of failure called
buckling. Short wide compressive member tends to fail by material
crushing.
When buckling occurs the strut will no longer carry any more load and it
will simply continue to buckle i.e its stiffness then becomes zero and it is
useless as a structural member

THEORY
To predict the buckling load Euler buckling formula is used. The crictical
value in Euler Formula is the slenderness ratio, which is the ratio of the
length of the strut to its radius of gyration (L/K).
The Euler formula become inaccurate for struts with L/K ratio of less than
1.125 and this should be taken into account in any design work.

Prepared by:
Name: Ahmad Zurisman bin Mohd Ali
Singnature:
Date: 18 Disember 2006

Faculty : Civil And Environment

Engineering

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Department : Structure And Material

Engineering
Title :

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BUCKLING OF STRUTS

11/07/2005
5/7/2005

Euler buckling formula for pin struts :

Pe = 2 EI L2

Where;
Pe = Euler buckling load (N)
E = Youngs Modulus (Nm-2)
I = Second moment of area (m4)
L = length of strut (m)
5.0

APPARATUS

Sketch the apparatus and name the important items

6.0

PROCEDURE
Part 1
1. Fit the bottom chuck to the machine and remove the top chuck (to
give two pinned ends). Select the shortest strut, number 1, and
measured the cross section using the vernier provided and calculated
the second moment of area, I,for the strut. ( bd3/12)
2. Adjust the position of the sliding crosshead to accept the strut using
the thumbnut to lock off the slider. Ensure that there is the maximum
amaount of travel available on the handwheel threat to compress the
strut. Finally tighten the locking screw.

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Department : Structure And Material

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BUCKLING OF STRUTS

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3. Carefully back- off the handwheel so that the strut is resting in the
notch but not tranmitting any load. Rezero the forcemeter using the
front panel control.
4. Carefully start to load the strut. If the strut begin to buckle to the left,
flick the strut to the right and vice versa (this reduces any error
associated wih the straightness of strut). Turn the handwheel until
there is no further increase in load (the load may peak and then drop
as it settles in the notches).
5. Record the final load in Table 1. Repeat with strut numbers 2, 3, 4
and 5 adjusting the crosshead as required to fit the strut.
Part 2
1. To study the effect of end conditions, follow the same basic
procedure as in part 1, but this time remove the bottom chuck and
clamp the specimen using the cap head screw and plate to make a
pinned-fixed end condition.
2. Record your result in Table 2 and calculate the values of 1/ L2 for the
struts.
3. Fit the top chuck with the two cap head screws and clamp both ends
of the specimen to make a pinned pinned end condition. Calculate
the new values of 1/L2.
4. Enter the result into Table 3
7.0

RESULT

Strut
Number

Length
(mm)

Buckling Load (N)

Experiment

1
2
3
4
5

Table 1

Buckling Load (N)

Theory

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BUCKLING OF STRUTS

Strut Number

Length (mm)

Buckling Load
(N)

11/07/2005
5/7/2005

1/L2 ( m-2)

1
2
3
4
5

Table2
Strut Number

Length (mm)

Buckling Load
(N)

1/L2 ( m-2)

1
2
3
4
5

Table 3
8.0

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

Part 1:
1. Examine the Euler buckling equation and select an appropriate
parameter to establish a linear relationship between the buckling load
and the length of the strut. Write the relationship below.
2. Calculate the value and enter them in Table 1 with an appropriate title.
3. Plot a graph to prove the relationship is linear. Compare your
experimental value to those calculated from Euler formula by entering
a theoretical line onto the graph. Comment on the result.
4. Explain that the Euler Formula can predict the buckling load or not.

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Department : Structure And Material

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BUCKLING OF STRUTS

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Part 2:
1. Plot separate graphs of buckling load versus 1/ L2 and calculate the
gradient of each line.
2. Fill the table below showing the comparison between experimental
and theoretical ratio by end condition
PinnedPinned*

PinnedFixed

FixedFixed

Experimental
gradient
Experimental ratio
Theoretical ratio

Notes:
1. *Use the experimental gradient fom Part 1
2. Experimental ratio = Exp. Gradient / gradient of pinned-pinned.
3. Theoretical ratio can be obtained from Euler Formula for pinnedfixed and fixed-fixed.

3. Comment on the experimental and theoretical ratio.

4. What conclusion can you made from the experiments.