THEORETICAL & APPLIED MECHANICS LETTERS 4, 041011 (2014)

Finding the buckling load of non-uniform columns using the

iteration perturbation method
Aref Afsharfard,a) Anooshiravan Farshidianfar
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
(Received 2 February 2014; revised 3 April 2014; accepted 26 May 2014)

Abstract The aim of this study is to calculate the critical load of variable iner-
tia columns. The example studied in this paper can be used as a paradigm for
other non-uniform columns. The wavelength of equivalent vibratory system is
used to calculate the critical load of the trigonometrically varied inertia column.
In doing so, the equilibrium equation of the column is theoretically studied us-
ing the perturbation method. Accuracy of the calculated results is evaluated by
comparing the solution with numerical results. Effect of improving the initial
guess on the solution accuracy is investigated. Effects of varying parameters of
the trigonometrically varied inertia and the uniformly tapered columns on their
stability behavior are studied. Finally, using the so-called “perfectibility” param-
eter, two design goals, i.e., being lightweight and being strong, are studied for the
discussed columns.

c 2014 The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. [doi:10.1063/2.1404111]

Keywords perturbation method, critical load, non-uniform column, perfectibility

Nowadays, interests of researchers for using analytical techniques to solve nonlinear problems
are increased. The reason lies in the fact that every physical process is really a nonlinear process,
and should be described using nonlinear equations. Kerschen et al.1 studied the sources of non-
linearity and classified them into five categories: (1) geometry nonlinearity, which is the results of
large displacements in structures, (2) inertia nonlinearity, which is derived from nonlinear terms
in the equation of motion, (3) nonlinear material behavior, which may be observed when the con-
stitutive law is nonlinear, (4) damping dissipation being essentially a nonlinear phenomenon, and
(5) boundary conditions or external nonlinear body forces resulting in nonlinearity.
Many efforts are made to develop methods for investigating the nonlinear problems.2–4 One
of the best tools to study nonlinear problems is the perturbation method.5–7 This method is widely
used to investigate practical nonlinear problems.8–10 Nayfeh11,12 used the perturbation method to
study the weakly nonlinear problems. Hajj et al.13 combined the perturbation techniques and spec-
tral moments to characterize the nonlinear parameters of vibratory systems. Chen and Cheung14
extended the classical perturbation techniques to study the strongly nonlinear problems. Moeen-
fard et al.15 used the perturbation method to analyze the vibratory behavior of micro-beams con-
sidering the effects of rotary inertia and shear deformation.
One of the most important branches of widely studied mechanical engineering is the stabil-
ity of structures. Li16 investigated the buckling load of non-uniform columns subjected to axial

a) Corresponding author. Email: aref.afsharfard@gmail.com.

041011-2 A. Afsharfard, A. Farshidianfar Theor. Appl. Mech. Lett. 4, 041011 (2014)

concentrated and distributed loading. He presented a class of exact functional solutions for the
buckling problem of non-uniform columns. Iremonger17 determined buckling load of tapered and
stepped columns using finite difference method. Lacarbonara18 used the perturbation approach to
obtain the post-buckling solutions of non-uniform linearly and nonlinearly elastic rods. Singh and
Li19 presented a low-dimensional mathematical model to calculate the buckling load of uniform
and non-uniform functionally graded column the axial direction.
Whereas finding the critical load of columns is widely considered by researchers,20,21 there
is little attention toward analytically calculating the critical load of non-uniform columns. The
main goal of the present study is to find the critical load of variable inertia columns. In doing
so, the equilibrium equation of a trigonometrically varied inertia column is investigated using the
perturbation method. Using an admissible initial guess, the critical load of column is calculated.
To evaluate the accuracy of solution, the analytical solutions are compared with the finite element
method (FEM) results. Effects of improving initial guess in the iteration perturbation method
are analyzed. Finally, the trigonometrically varied inertia column is compared with uniformly
tapered columns. A parameter named “perfectibility” is used to combine two design goals for the
discussed columns.
Non-uniform column A simply supported ideal column of length L under the action of axial
load P is shown in Fig. 1. It is assumed that the axial load is quasi-statically applied on the column.
Based on the Euler–Bernoulli assumption, the equilibrium equation for the column can be given
as EI(x) y,xx + Py = 0, where x is an independent variable, y denotes the lateral displacement of
the column and I(x) is inertia of the column, which is variable. In the present study the inertia
of column trigonometrically changes along the column. Inertia of the trigonometrically varied
inertia columns is as I(x) = I0 (1 + sin(πx/L)), where I0 is the column inertia at both ends of the
column and L is the column length.
y

P P x
L

Fig. 1. Schematic of the trigonometrically varied inertia column.

Finding the critical load The critical load of the trigonometrically varied inertia columns
is theoretically obtained, using the iteration perturbation method. Note that, the iteration pertur-
bation is a technique, which is coupled to the iteration method and can be used to solve strongly
nonlinear problems.9,10 Governing equation of lateral deformation of the trigonometrically varied
inertia column can be written as

y + sin (kx) y + [P/(EI0 )]y = 0, (1)

where y = y,xx and k is equal to π/L. An iteration formula for Eq. (1) can obviously be con-
structed as

yn + yn+1 [(yn+1 /yn ) sin(kx)] + [P/(EI0 )]yn+1 = 0, n = 0, 1, 2, · · · . (2)

041011-3 Finding the buckling load of non-uniform columns

The above equation is a Mathieu type of nonlinear equations. The parameter yn describes n-th
approximate solution of nonlinear oscillation. Suppose that the first iterative solution is equal to
y0 = sin(ω x). Note that, the first solution is a geometrically admissible trial function. In this
assumption parameter ω is the angular frequency of the equation. Regarding the first iterative
solution, Eq. (2) can be re-written as

y1 + [P/(EI0 )]y1 − εω 2 y1 sin (kx) = 0, (3)

where ε is an artificial parameter. Solution of the above equation (y) can be expanded into a series
in artificial parameter.11 In other words, y can be written as

y = y 0 + ε y1 + ε 2 y2 + · · · . (4)

Similarly, P/(EI0 ) can be expressed as

P/(EI0 ) = ω 2 + ε C1 + ε 2C2 + · · · . (5)

Substituting Eqs. (4) and (5) into Eq. (3) results in

y1 + ω 2 y1 = −C1 sin(ω x) + ω 2 sin (ω x) sin(kx). (6)

 π/2ω
Avoiding the presence of secular terms requires it to satisfy the relation 0 sin(ω x)(−C1 sin(ω x)
+ω 2 sin (ω x) sin(kx)) dx = 0. Therefore, parameter C1 satisfies the relation C1 = (4k2 ω 3 − 8ω 5 )
cos(πk/2ω ) + 8ω 5 /[kπ(4ω 2 − k2 )]. In the present study, the longitudinal deformation of the
column under the axial load is considered negligibly small. But, it should be noted that increasing
the axial load leads to lateral deformation of the column when the axial load becomes greater
than the buckling load. Therefore, before reaching the critical load and consequently curving the
column, the first mode shape wavelength of the column λ is equal to 2L. The wavelength of the
first mode shape of column is clearly shown in Fig. 2.

y Column

P P
L x
λ/2 λ/2

Fig. 2. Relation between the column first mode shape and the wavelength.

Subsequently, before the column buckles, it can be concluded that ω = π/L, therefore,
C1 = 8ω 2 /(3π). Regarding Eq. (5), the critical load is equal to Pcr = (π2 /L2 )(1 + 8/3π)EI0 ≈
18.247 2EI0 /L2 . Using the variational iteration method, y1 can be calculated from Eq. (6) to
be y1 = [2/3 − C1 x/(2ω )] cos(ω x) + C1 sin(ω x)/(2ω 2 ) − 1/2 − cos(2ω x)/6. New iteration can
be performed by substituting y1 into Eq. (4). Therefore the new iteration can be considered as
y = sin(ω x) + [2/3 − C1 x/(2ω )] cos(ω x) + C1 sin(ω x)/(2ω 2 ) − 1/2 − cos(2ω x)/6. Substituting
the new iteration into Eq. (2) and avoiding the presence of secular terms results in the following
relation: C1 = [(128π2 − 15π3 )π2 ]/[(9πL2C1 + 48π3 − 80π2 )L2 ]. The coefficient C1 can be ob-
041011-4 A. Afsharfard, A. Farshidianfar Theor. Appl. Mech. Lett. 4, 041011 (2014)

tained by solving the above equation using Newton’s method. Therefore the critical load, in the
new iteration, can be obtained as Pcr = 18.281 2EI0 /L2 .
This paper focuses on finding the critical load of non-uniform columns. For this reason the
critical load of a trigonometrically varied inertia column is theoretically calculated. In doing so,
the relation between the critical load and the wavelength of the first mode shape of column is
used. To evaluate the result accuracy, the theoretical answers are compared with the numerical
result obtained by using the ANSYS software. The element used to obtain buckling load of the
column is solid 95. This element is defined by twenty nodes and it has three degrees of freedom
per node. Numbers of elements in the coarse and the refined model were respectively equal to 960
and 1 440. The buckling loads determined from eigenvalue analysis for the two meshes differed
by less than one percent. The comparison between analytical and numerical results is presented in
Table 1. As shown in this table, the iteration perturbation method provides high accurate results
even in the first iteration. Furthermore, it is shown that improving the initial guess in iteration
perturbation technique leads to more accurate results.

Table 1. Comparing FEM results with analytical solution for trigonometrically varied inertia column.
Method Numerical method Perturbation method (1st iteration) Perturbation method (2nd iteration)
Pcr 18.351 6EI0 /L2 18.247 2EI0 /L2 18.281 2EI0 /L2
Error /% – 0.56 0.38

Note that, the discussed technique can be used to calculate the critical load of other non-
uniform columns. For example, consider the inertia of a trigonometrically varied inertia column
and a uniformly tapered column as

I0 (1 + 2ax/L), 0  x  L/2,
Tri
I(x,a) = I0 (1 + a sin(πx/L)), Uni
I(x,a) =
I0 [1 + 2a(1 − x/L)], L/2  x  L,

where a is a constant showing the rate of changing inertia along the column. Furthermore, su-
perscripts “Tri” and “Uni” show that the values are respectively related to the trigonometrically
varied inertia column and the uniformly tapered column.
Using the first iteration of the presented perturbation method, the critical load of columns
can be obtained as PcrTri = (9.869 6 + 8.377 6a)(EI0 /L2 ) and PcrUni = (9.869 6 + 6.934 8a)(EI0 /L2 ).
Furthermore, volume of the trigonometrically varied inertia column and the uniformly tapered
√   √
column can be calculated as V Tri = 2L πI0 ( 0L 1 + a sin(πx/L) dx) and V Uni = 2L πI0 {[2(1 +
a)3/2 − 2]/(3a)}.
Variation of the dimensionless radius of the uniformly tapered and the trigonometrically varied
inertia columns versus their dimensionless length are shown in Fig. 3.
Relation between the volumes of the discussed columns is shown in Fig. 4. Furthermore, in
this figure, the relation between the critical loads of the columns is depicted. As shown in this
figure, rate of increasing the critical load ratio is larger than that of the volume ratio. For example,
if the volume of the trigonometrically varied inertia column is 1.097 times larger than the volume
of the uniformly tapered column, the critical load of the trigonometrically varied inertia column
041011-5 Finding the buckling load of non-uniform columns

1.5 1.20
a=1 r0 = (4I0/π)1/4

& V Tri/V Uni

1.15

1.0 1.10
r/r0

Uni
Pcr / Pcr
Uniform column 1.05 V Tri /V Uni
Tri Uni

Tri
Uniform tapered column
Trigonometrically variable inertia column Pcr / Pcr
0.5 1.00
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0 1 2 3 4 5
x/L a

Fig. 3. Variation of the column dimensionless Fig. 4. Variations of the volume and the critical
radius versus the dimensionless length. load of columns versus the parameter a.

will be 1.162 times larger than the critical load of the uniformly tapered column.
Note that it is desirable to have a column, which buckles at higher axial loads. Furthermore,
this column should not be heavy. In other words, a perfectly designed column not only can support
heavy axial loads, but also is lightweight itself. In doing so, in the present study, to satisfy both
of the design goals, a parameter named “Perfectibility” is introduced as Pper = (V0 /V )W F1 + (1 −
Pcr0 /Pcr )W F2 , where V0 and Pcr0 are respectively the volume V0 = 2L(πI0 )1/2 and the critical load
Pcr0 = π2 EI0 /L2 of the uniform column. Furthermore, W F is the weight factor of the column
volume and critical load (note that W F1 + W F2 = 1). Variation of the perfectibility with the
parameter a is shown in Fig. 5. As shown in this figure, when higher critical load is more important
than smaller volume of columns (W F1 < 0.5), the trigonometrically varied inertia columns are
better choices. The uniformly tapered columns are perfect choices, if the weight of column is the
more important parameter (W F1 > 0.5).

(a) 1.0 (b) 1.0

0.8 WF1 = 0 0.8

0.6 0.6
Pper

Pper

WF1 = 1.0
0.4 0.4

0.2 Tri 0.2 Tri

Uni Uni
0 0
0 2 4 0 2 4
a a

Fig. 5. Variation of the Pper versus the parameter a for (a) W F1 = 0 and (b) W F1 = 1.0.

Conclusion A novel technique is developed to find the critical load of non-uniform columns.
In doing so, the critical load of a trigonometrically varied inertia column is theoretically calculated
using the perturbation method. It is shown that, using the presented technique, accurate results
can be calculated when an admissible initial guess is initially used. Furthermore, it is shown that
improving the initial guess can reduce the error of solution more than 32%.
The critical load and volume of the trigonometric variable inertia column and the uniformly
041011-6 A. Afsharfard, A. Farshidianfar Theor. Appl. Mech. Lett. 4, 041011 (2014)

tapered column are combined into the so-called perfectibility parameter. Using this parameter, it
is shown that the trigonometric varied inertia columns are good choices, if high critical load is
demanded.

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