STRENGTH OF MATERIAL- II
LESSON 4:
EULER BUCKLING METHOD FOR CALCULATION OFYOUNG MODULUS AND
STIFFNESS COEFFICIENT
Buckling
This is a very important mode of failure for a structure, with a
remarkable theory
A structure may fail to support its load when a connection
snaps, or it bends until it is useless, or a member in tension
either pulls apart or a crack forms that divides it, or a member in
compression crushes and crumbles, or, finally, if a member in
compression buckles, that is, moves laterally and shortens
under a load it can no longer support. Of all of these modes of
failure, buckling is probably the most common and most
catastrophic.
Leonhard Euler long ago showed that there was a critical load
for buckling of a slender column. A column, of course, is
simply a common case of a compression member. With any
smaller load, the column would remain straight and support it.
With any larger load, the least disturbance would cause the
column to bend sideways with an indefinitely large displace-
ment; that is, it would buckle. The simplest case is that of a
column pinned at both ends, that is, free to rotate, under a load
P. Let x be the distance along the column, and y its displacement
to the side. The bending moment at any point x is Py, which
increases with the displacement, it should be noticed. This
means that any buckling merely encourages further buckling,
explaining why such failure is catastrophic.
The bending moment is related to the curvature by Py = M = -
YI d 2y/dx2, since for small y the second derivative is the
reciprocal of the radius of curvature. Y is Young’s modulus,
and I is the moment of inertia of area of the cross-section of
the column. I is the sum of elements of area times the square
of their distances from the neutral axis, as in the bending of a
beam. The differential equation is easy to solve, with the result
that y = A sin ax + B cos ax, where a2 = P/YI. B = 0, since y(0)
= 0, and the condition A sin aL = 0 must also be satisfied,
where L is the length of the column. This means that aL = ð,
2ð, ... , or the smallest value of P is given by P’ = ð2YI/L2. The
constant A itself remains indeterminate.
The interpretation of this result is that for P < P’ the column
remains straight and A = 0. For P > P’, the column is unstable
and buckles. P’ is the critical load for buckling. It is found from
practice that this theory gives good results for columns that are
more than 30 times longer than wide. P’ is proportional to 1/
L2, so the supporting capacity of a column decreases rapidly
with an increase in length. We also notice that an eccentric load
will cause a decrease in strength, since there will be a bending
moment and a curvature from the start. The column will be
stable under sideways impacts and will return to straightness
when such load is removed. The moment of inertia I will be
different for different directions of buckling if the cross-section
is not axially symmetrical. The direction with the minimum I
will be the critical one.
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18
There is a good incentive to look for ways to increase the critical
buckling load. If the ends of the column are clamped, that is,
prevented from rotating, the buckling curve changes from a
half-wavelength sine to a full wavelength cosine, effectively
halving the length of the column, and increasing the critical load
by a factor of 4. A brace in the middle of the column that
prevents it from moving to one side also halves the buckling
length, and increases the critical load by a factor of 4.
For a short column, P’ will become large, and at some point the
compressive strength of the material will be exceeded. Let P” =
Aó be the maximum load for failure by compression. Rankine
combined these results empirically to give a maximum load P
by the formula 1/P = 1/P’ + 1/P”, which is quite conservative,
and seems to give good results for columns between five and
forty diameters long. Note that the critical load using this
formula will be less than either P’ or P”.
If the column is made from a circular pipe, an effective unit
stress for buckling can be expressed as Y/n2, where n = 2L/d,
where d is the diameter of the pipe. For mild steel, a safe
compressive stress is about 17 000 psi, and Y = 30 000 000 psi,
so P’ and P” would be about equal at n = 42. A 3" diameter
pipe with walls 1/4" thick and 10' 6" long could be expected to
support about 40 000 lb, using a unit stress of 8 500 psi. This is
a quite conservative design, with a factor of safety of at least 2
against buckling.
If the walls of the pipe are thin, another type of failure can
occur, local buckling, in which the side of the pipe under
compression when it deflects slightly buckles over a short
distance, which is not surprising in view of the ratio of length
to thickness. This was also found to occur in the upper flange
of I-beams when there was too little support for a broad
flange. Provision was made for this in the standard design
procedure. Attempts to save material by making thin members
of strong materials risks failure by local buckling.
The moment of inertia of a rectangular cross-section is I =
bh3/12, and for buckling b is taken as the larger of the two
dimensions. For a solid circular cylinder, I = ðd4/32. The
dimensions and moments of inertia for rolled sections are
given in handbooks.
Euler Buckling Method for Calculating Youngs
Modulus and Stiffness Coefficient
In late January of 1998 Bernard Hunt offered an interesting
method of extracting the finest wood from your local hobby
shop. His thoughts, and method, are presented here, so that we
might all build more successful models.
BH - I am addicted to buying wood for my indoor models
from our local model shop. I have bought hundreds of sheets
over the years.
I am afraid it is not enough simply to weigh it and calculate the
density as most of it is has poor mechanical properties. I now
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test the wood for Youngs modulus right there in the shop and
only take the stuff that has the right density and stiffness. There
are several ways of measuring wood stiffness but the one I
prefer uses Euler buckling and only takes a few seconds if you
have a programmable pocket computer to calculate the results.
With this method, you hold the sheet vertically on a digital
kitchen scale and then press on the top end until the sheet
buckles sideways - you calculate the properties of the wood
from its dimensions, weight and the buckling load. I have
published the method in several newsletters but I could try and
put it on a web page so internet folks can access it. The best
wood selected by this method is more than 30% stiffer than
your average wood from IMS, model shops or wherever and
this makes a fantastic difference to EZB sticks and my unbraced
F1D wing spars.
The test method and calculation is described very briefly below.
If you have a good digital kitchen scales which weighs to greater
than 2kg (5lb) max load you can test 1/8" and 3/16" x 3" x 36"
wood easily and soft 1/4" at a pinch. 4" wide sheets thicker than
1/8" are better split in two for testing. Some scales are accurate
enough for weighing the wood and measuring the buckling
loads but you may have to use a separate smaller scales for the
weighing. The best results for indoor stock is obtained by
cutting the wood down to 1/8" x 1/4" x 18" pieces which
avoids the big density variations of sheets and is a handy size
for stripping or sanding to spars or sticks. The really great wood
for indoor use is 5-6lb density with a stiffness coefficient of
about 130. This stuff is stiff and tough but rare.
Bernie Hunt (Yorkshire England)
Euler Buckling Method for Calculating Youngs Modulus
and Stiffness Coefficient by Bernard Hunt Based on
method by Hewitt Philips published in SAM86 Speaks
When a slender sheet or strip of balsa is loaded on its end then
it ‘does not deflect until the load reaches a critical value’ known
as Euler’s Buckling Load.
Beyond this point the sheet buckles laterally and its length
shortens ‘whilst the load remains constant.’
For sheets of balsa load may differ from one direction to the
other so measure the load both ways and use the average. This
can be done by holding a sheet vertically on a kitchen scales and
then pressing on the end until the sheet buckles and noting the
reading.
The formula for the buckling load is ...
buckling load = pi^2*e*bb*bd^3/(12*bl^2)
pi^2=9.87
e = youngs modulus of elasticity.
So we can calculate youngs modulus from the buckling load and
the sheet dimensions if ...
bb= balsa breath (width)
bd= balsa depth (thickness)
bl= balsa length in inches
and load and balsa sheet weight (bw) in grams
the formula becomes
youngs modulus e= 0.188*bl^2*(load-bw)/(bb*bd^3) in
gcm^-2
we can also calculate density and stiffness coefficient.
stiffness coefficient, SC, tells how good your wood is compared
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7.253
to average.
STRENGTH OF MATERIAL- II
density = 3.8*bw/(bl*bb*bd) in lb/cuft
SC = e *2500/(density^2*13000000)
An SC <90 is poor, 90-100 is average, 110 is good and >120 is
super.
A listing for a simple basic program to do calculations follows
below. This can also easily be adopted to your favorite spread-
sheet.
input “load (grams) =”; load
input “balsa length (inches)=”; bl
input “balsa breadth (inches)=”; bb
input “balsa depth (inches)=”; bd
input “balsa weight (grams)=”; bw
e = 0.188 * bl ^ 2 * (load - bw) / (bb * bd ^ 3)
density = 3.8 * bw / (bl * bd * bb)
sc = e * 2500 / (density ^ 2 * 13000000)
print “load =”; load
print “balsa length =”; bl
print “balsa breadth =”; bb
print “balsa depth =”; bd
print “balsa weight =”; bw
print “density =”; .01 * int(100 * density)
print “youngs mod =”; .1 * int(.00001 * e); “x 10^6 gcm^-2 or
approx “; 1420 * int(.00001 * e); “ psi”
print “stiff coefft =”; cint(sc); “ (<90 =poor,90-100 =average,
110 = good, 120 =super)”
stop
If you are as lazy as most of us, you can take advantage of the
industry of a couple FFML members. Please be sure to read
Bernard Hunt’s article, as well as the comments and concerns, so
as to fully appreciate how these efforts will result in better
models.
Buckling of Slender Struts
Introduction
A type of failure that is sometimes overlooked for a body
subject to compressive loading, is that due to instability, called
buckling. The longer and more slender the column is, the lower
the safe compressive stress that it can stand. The slenderness of
a column is measured by the slenderness ratio, L/k, where L is
the length of the column and (lower case) k = (I/A)0.5 the
radius of gyration of the cross sectional area about the
centroidal axis. The minimum radius of gyration is the one to
be considered. This corresponds to the minimum value of I,
the second moment of area of the section. A is the cross
section area.
A link to a ‘buckling load calculator’ based on the thoeory
below, is given at the bottom of this page.
Eulers Formula
Euler analysis applies to slender columns, the formula, for the
critical axial concentric load that causes the column to be on the
point of collapse for frictionless pinned ends (no bending
moment at the ends) is given below.
19
 For a particular column cross section and length, the load Further reading: ‘Design of Machine Elements’, by V M Faires,
STRENGTH OF MATERIAL- II

capacity Fc depends only upon the modulus of elasticity E. Collier Macmillan, 1965, chapter 7.
Since there is little variation in E among diferent grades of steel, It should be noted that sheets and plates may suffer buckling.
there is no advantage in using an expensive, high strength alloy Where a fabricated ‘I’ section beam has an insufficiently thick
steel instead of structural steel for columns with L/k greatcr web, this can also suffer from buckling. Standard sections are
than about l20. sized so this is unlikely to be a problem.
Effective Length David J Grieve, Amended, 1st March 2004, original dated 27th
Eulers equation as written can be applied to a column with ends August 1999.
fixed in any manner if the length is taken as that between
Radius of Gyration & Buckling
sections of zero bending moment. This length is called the
The radius of gyration (r) describes the way in which the area of
effective length, Le and is equal to KL (upper case) K, where L is
a cross-section is distributed around its centroidal axis. If the
the actual length and K is a constant dependent upon the end
area is concentrated far from the centroidal axis it will have a
fixings. Theoretical values for different types of column ends
greater value of r and a greater resistance to buckling. A cross-
are shown below. It should be noted that design codes issued
section can have more than one radius of gyration and most
by some organisations often recommend values that are
sections have at least two. If this is the case, the section tends to
somewhat different to these theoretical values, see right hand
buckle around the axis with the smallest value. The radius of
column.
gyration is defined as:
A typical factor of safety, or design factor, for Euler structural
r = sqrt (I/A)
columns is between 2 and 3.5, but this is based on the critical
load, not on the yield or ultimate strength of the material. where
r = radius of gyration
I = moment of inertia
A = area of the cross section
End Fixings Theoretical K value Practical K value
All things being equal, a circular pipe is the
pinned frictionless ends: K=1 K=1 most efficient column section to resist
fixed ends: K=0.5 K=0.65 buckling. This is because it has an equal
fixed - p i n n e d a n d g u i d e d : K=0.7 K=0.8 radius of gyration in all directions and it
fixed - f r e e : K=2 K=2.1 has the its area distributed as far away as
possible from the centroid.
The steel columns shown below all have areas of 3-1/8 in2. The
If the long column remains straight and the load concentric, the safe loads for an 8 ft length are shown. The only difference
average stress in the column at the point of collapse is s c = Fc/ between them is the way in which the cross-sectional area is
A and it is local buckling at some point where the stress is distributed about the centroid.
below the yield stress of the material that leads to failure.
Short and Intermediate Columns
If Le/k is below a certain value for a particular material, the
Euler formula gives a critical load which causes a stress greater
than the yield stress of the material. Collapse in these cases is
probably due to a combination of buckling and plastic action.
For very short columns the yield stress (with appropriate design
factor) can be used. For columns that are not short, but where
the Euler formula gives stress above the yield stress, empirical
methods of design are used. One popular equation in use since
the early 1900s is the Johnson formula which can be used for
columns with slenderness ratios below a transition slenderness
ratio or column constant, Cc. Click here for further explanation.
The value of Le/k that indicates the transition slenderness ratio

isgivenby: and when Le/k is below Cc, the

Johnson formula can be applied:
Buckling
Buckling is very similar to bending. Thus, the shape of the
cross-section is very important. The shape of the column also
As a very rough guide, for steel, the Euler buckling formula is
only applicable for columns with Le/k exceeding about 100,
depending upon the yield stress.

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20 7.253
effects the way in which it will buckle. Imagine for a moment a

STRENGTH OF MATERIAL- II
single sheet of paper (A4 or 8.5 x 11). If one would try to
simply stand it on edge it would be impossible unless the paper
was folded. This simple act of folding the paper actually
increases the cross-sectional moment of Inertia and thus the
stiffness of the newly formed column. The stiffness of another
paper column could be futher increased by taking the paper and
taping the long edges together to create a tube. Now, the paper
will be very stiff since the material of the paper is distributed
evenly as far away from the neutral axis as possible.
The load at which a column will begin to buckle is known as the
Critical Buckling Load (or critical load). A number of qualities
of the column must be known in order to determine this value.
The Swiss mathematician Leonard Euler (1707 - 1783) derived a
formula in 1744 (known as the Euler Buckling Formula) to
determine the load at which a perfect column will buckle. It was
a very important step in the history of technology and remains
important for column design today. The equation is only
accurate for columns which approach the perfect conditions for
which he derrived the equation.
Ncr = ¼ 2E I / (l k2)
In which the terms are defined as follows:
Ncr = Critical Buckling Load
E = Modulus of Elasticity
I = Moment of Inertia
lk = Effective Buckling Length The magnitude of the internal forces is important to know in
order to size a column. A small amount of tensile stress has
This equation can be modified by dividing both sides by the little effect on a wood or steel column, but could cause prob-
area of the column so that the stress at which the column will lems in a concrete or masonry column.
buckle can be determined:
Questions for Thought
fcr = sigmacr = Ncr / A
What are the relationships between the various columnar
= ¼ 2 E I /A(lk2)
elements within the human skeleton? What are the various end
now, knowing that r2 = I/A, this equation becomes:
conditions? What is the buckling length of the columns in a
= ¼ 2 E /(lk/r) 2
fassade near you?
Lambda, or the slenderness ratio is a value with which one can
gage the relative resistance of a column cross-section to Additional Reading
buckling. Or, stated otherwise, the relative ease in which a Schodeck, Daniel. “Structures.” Chapter 7.
column WILL buckle. It is defined as
lambda = lk / r
Where lk is the buckling length and r is the radius of gyration.
Thus, the critical buckling stress can be expressed as,
fcr= ¼ 2 E / (lambda)2
The buckling length of a column depends on its physical length
and its end conditions. Euler discovered that if a column is
hinged at both ends it will buckle in the form of a sine curve
with the inflection points at the hinges. This would be the case
in which the buckling length of a column is identical to its
length. This is not the case if the ends of the column are both
fixed. The determination of the buckling lengths for various
column end conditions and frames is given below:

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