UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS

Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

MECHANICS OF MATERIALS LABORATORY

Experiment #8 - Slender Members

Objective
The purpose of this lab is to characterize the relationship between the length of slender members
and their critical buckling load. The specimens to be tested will be metal strips representing
potential truss members. The end conditions of the members will be fixed, meaning the ends are
not free to rotate. 

Background
A straight slender member subjected to an axial compressive load is called a column. If such a
member is relatively short, it will remain straight when loaded, and failure will occur by yielding
of the material. However, if the member is relatively long a different type of behavior will be
observed. When the compressive load reaches a so called “critical load” a long column will
undergo a bending action in which the lateral deflection will become very large with little
increase in load. This behavior is called “buckling” and can occur
even though the maximum stress in the column is less than the yield
stress of the material. The load at which a column will buckle is
affected by material properties, column length and cross section, and
end conditions.
If a long slender bar of constant cross section is pinned at each end,
the applied compressive load, Pcr that will cause
Buckling is:
π 2 EI
Pcr = 2
(KL)
Where:
E = Modulus of elasticity.
I = Minimum moment of inertia of cross-sectional area about an axis through the centroid.
L = Length of the bar.
K = Effective length constant (KL = effective length)

This formula was first obtained by the Swiss mathematician, Leonard Euler (1707-1783) and the
load Pcr is called the Euler buckling load. Euler’s formula defines a boundary above which
elastic instability occurs in a compression member. To make it independent of the size of the
member it is frequently written in terms of stress rather than load.
 Pcr π 2 EI π2 E
σ cr= = =
A (KL)2 A KL 2
( ) A
r
L
Where is called the slenderness ratio and r is the radius of gyration. The radius of gyration
r
can be computed from the equation:
I
r=
√ A

The effective length Le = KL depends on the support boundary conditions which are
summarized in the table below:

Procedure
Metal strips with varying lengths will be loaded using fixed end conditions until they buckle. The
load needed to buckle a member is called the critical load (Pcr).To investigate the nature of the
relationship between the lengths of the members and the load required to buckle them, the
critical loads will be plotted versus their lengths. Be sure that the top and bottom mounts for the
columns are parallel. For each member, record the dimensions and record the maximum load
(Pcr) that the column carried.
Computations, Results and Report Requirements
For each member, compute the effective slenderness ratio. Also, compute the theoretical
a)
failure load using Euler’s formula:
π 2 EI
Pcr = 2
Le
Tabulate and plot both the theoretical and the experimental values of failure load, Pcr vs.
effective slenderness ratio. Here E=2.7 ×1 06 psi

b) In order to have a better understanding of the influence of the cross section, assume that we
have a I) circular cross section and a II) square cross section with the same value in area for each
of the members. What would be the Euler buckling load (Pcr) for the new members? Please rank
the members in terms of resistance to buckling and make a comparison among the three cross
sections (rectangle, square, and circle).

c) Compare the critical stress (σ cr ) with the yield stress(σ y ) and ultimate stress(σ u) of the cold-
rolled steel tension test.

Slender members data sheet (original dimensions are given):

I= 0,00439453
A= 0,09375
r=(I/A)^0,5= 0,21650635

Test # 1 2 3
0,125 0,125 0,125
b (in)
0,75 0,75 0,75
h (in)
18 21 24
Lo (in)
18,00 21,00 24,00
Le (in)
83,14 96,99 110,85
Effective Slenderness Ratio

Pcr Experimental (lb) 197,06 158,48 179,17

Pcr Euler (lb) 361,44 265,54 203,31

45,48% 40,32% 11,87%

Pcr %Error
Appendix:

The raw data from experiment:

Length L= 18 in L= 21 in L= 24 in
Support Simpl Clamp Simpl Clamp Simpl Clamp
Type e ed e ed e ed
Suppo Suppor Suppo Suppor Suppo Suppor
rt t rt t rt t
Theoretic 361,436 737,624 265,545 541,928 203,308 414,913
al Critical
Load (lb)
Experime 811,996 580,124 480,180
ntal Data 1.970,559 1.584,843 1.791,683
(lb)
Error (%) -125% -167% -118% -192% -136% -332%