Lecture 9

Stability of Elastic Structures

Lecture 10

Advanced Topic in Column Buckling

Problem 9-1:
A clamped-free column is loaded at its tip by a load P. The issue here is to find the critical
buckling load.

a) Suggest a simple form of the buckled of the column, satisfying kinematic boundary
conditions.
b) Use the Rayleigh-Ritz quotient to find the approximate value of the buckling load.
c) Come up with another buckling shape which would give you a lower value for the
buckling load.
d) Find the exact solution of the problem and show the convergence of the approximate
solution to the exact solution.
Follow the example of a pin-pin column, which is presented in the notes of Lecture 9.

1
Problem 9-1 Solution:

a) Kinematic boundary condition, in term of shape function I ( x ) , for a clamped-free

column is

(0) '(0) 0

Choose a buckling shape

( x) x2 

'( x) 2x
''( x) 2

b) Use Rayleigh-Ritz Quotient, the critical buckling load is

l
I ''I '' dx
0
Nc EI l
I 'I ' dx
0
l
2 u 2dx
0
EI l
2x u 2xdx
0

EI
Nc 3
L2

2
c) Choose a buckling shape similar to a cantilever beam

I ( x) x 3  3Lx 2

I '( x) 3x 2  6Lx
I ''( x) 6x  6L

l
I ''I '' dx
0
Nc EI l
I 'I 'dx
0
l
³  6x  6L  dx
2
0
EI
³
 3x  6Lx  dx
l 2

12L3
EI
24 L5 5

EI
Nc 2.5
L2
EI
Compare to the result in b), N c 3 , this buckling shape givers a lower value
L2

d) Choose buckling shape

S
I ( x) 1 cos x 

2L

3
 S S
I '(x) sin x
2L 2L
2
§S
I ''( x) ¨ cos x
© 2L 2L

l
I ''I '' dx
0
Nc EI l
I 'I 'dx
0
2
l ª§ S 2
S º
³0 ««© 2L cos x » dx
2L ¼»

EI ¬ 

2
l§ S
¨ sin x ¸ dx
0 2L
© 2L
S2
EI
4L2

EI
Nc 2.47
L2

Check for local equilibrium of the solution

ª §S
4
§S
2 2
S
EIw IV
N c w '' A « EI ¨ cos x  EI 2 ¨ cos x 0
¬« © 2L 2L 4L © 2L 2L »¼

This is the exact solution to the clamped-free buckling

4
Problem 9-2:
Consider a clamped-free column loaded by a compressive force at the free end.

a) Determine the critical slenderness ratio E crit distinguishing between the elastic and

plastic buckling response. What is the buckling stress and strain?

b) Calculate the critical plastic buckling load for E 0.5E crit and the corresponding

stress and strain.

c) Calculate the critical elastic buckling load for E 2E crit and the corresponding

stress and strain.

d) Compare all three results.

Problem 9-2 Solution:

a) First, find the bending load˖

For Clamed-Free column

S 2 EI S 2 EI
Pcr
 2L
2
4L2

Second, find the buckling stress and strain

Pcr S 2 EI
V cr buckling
A 4AL2

Recall that

5
 I I
r Ÿ r2
A A
Then
2
Er 2 E 2
V cr buckling
4L2 4L r2 2

Recall that

L2 r 2
2
Er 2 2
E
V cr
4L2 4 2

V cr S2
H cr
E 4E 2

Third, find when V buckling V yield

E E crit when V cr y , which is

S 2E
Vy
4E crit 2

S 2E
E crit 2
4V y

E
E crit
2 Vy

b) E 0.5E crit , the column yields + hits plastic buckling

6
 S 2 Et S 2 Et
(From Lecture Note, equation 9.73)
crpl
§1
2
E crit
2

4 E crit ¸

©2 ¹

S2 S2
n n
pl
§1
2
E crit 2
4 E crit ¸
©2

c) 2E crit , the column will buckle elastically

2 2 2
E E E
V cr
4  2E crit 16E crit 2
2 2
4

V cr S2
H cr
E 16E crit 2

d) Compare the three results

Yield y y

E 0.67
Elastic Buckling 0.67 2
0.07 y 2
crit crit

19.74 E 7.9 1.98

Plastic Buckling 2
0.5 y 2 2
4 crit 4 crit crit

E
To simply our comparison, assume n 0.2 , Et 0.5E (*) and recall E crit
Vy
(*)In order to compare plastic buckling to elastic+yield, we need to make future
assumption about the material properties.

7
Problem 9-3: Consider the pin-pin column.

a) Suggest a polynomial buckling shape function ( x) to improve the approximate

solution derived in lecture note. Note that the one used in class was the parabolic
shape.
b) Determine the accuracy relative to the exact solution.
P

EI L

Problem 9-3 Solution:

§Sx x
a) The exact solution is w sin ¨ ¸ , use the none-dimensioned value F , the Taylor
L L
series expansion is

SF 
3

sin SF SF 
6

So we know the shape function must be

I ( F ) C1 F  C2 F 3
 

For 0 x L 2 , the boundary conditions are

­I  0  0
® 1
°I ' F ¸ 0
2 ¹

¯
The first boundary condition gives

I  0  C1  0   C2  0 

this doesn’t help.

The second boundary condition gives

8
 2
' C1 3C2 0
1 3
' C1 C2 0
2 4
4
C2 C1
3
So we have
4 3
( ) C1 C1
3
4 3
( ) C1
3
We can us the Rayleigh-Ritz Quotient
2
EI '' dx
N cr 2
' dx
2
'( x) C1 1 4 d dx
2 2
'( ) C12 1 8 2
16 4
d dx
2
''( x) 8C1 d dx
2 4
''( ) 64C12 2
d dx

d x l 1
where d F dx
dx l

Since we have considered the shape function for 0 d x d L 2 , we must adjust the limits on

the integral
2
EI '' dx
N cr 2
' dx
l
4
2 2
64C12 2
d dx dx
0
EI l
2
2 2
C12 1 8 2
16 4
d dx dx
0
l
2 4
2
64 x l 1 l dx
0
EI l
2 4 2
2
1 8 xl 16 x l 1 l dx
0

after lengthly algebra

EI
10
L2

9
 EI
N cr 10
L2

b)
The result are compared with the polynomial used in class and the exact solution
Exact Solution Parabolic Cubic
2 3
C sin C1 C2 C1 C2

Coefficient 2 12 10
9.87

Error N/A 21.5% 1.3%

Notice how we significantly reduce the error by including a higher order term.

10
Problem 9-4:
Present a step-by-step derivation of the buckling solution of the pin-clamped column from the
local equilibrium equation.
P

EI L

Problem 9-4 Solution:

Boundary condition for this problem
w0 w L 0
w'  0  0
EIw''  L  0
Start with 4th order ODE

EIwIV  Pw'' 0
P
wIV w'' 0
EI
We have an eigenvalue problem

4 P 2
0
EI
2 2 P
0
EI
P
1 2 0, 3 4 i
EI

P
Define KŸ 3 4 iK
EI

w C1  C2 x  C3 sin Kx  C4 cos Kx

11
Use the boundary conditions to solve for constants C1 , C2 , C3 and C4

w  0 0

w 0 0 C1 C4
C1 C4

w '  0 0

w' x C2 KC3 cos Kx KC4 sin Kx

w' 0 C2 KC3 0
C2 KC3

w L 0

w  L  C1  C2 L  C3 sin KL  C4 cos KL 0

Substitute C1 , C2 into the above expression

C3 KL sin KL C4 1 cos KL 0

w ''  L 
0

w '' x K 2C3 sin Kx K 2C4 cos Kx

w '' L K 2C3 sin KL K 2C4 cos KL 0

KL sin KL 1 cos KL C3
2 2
0
K sin KL K cos KL C4

det > 0

K 2 cos KL KL sin KL K 2 sin KL 1 cos KL 0

KL cos KL  sin KL 0
sin KL
KL tan KL
cos KL

So the equation to solve in order to find Pcr is

tan KL  KL 0
The smallest roots are KL 0 and KL 4.49 ,

we choose KL 4.49

12
 P
L 4.49
EI
2
20.16 EI
Pcr 2
EI 2
L 0.7 L
2
EI
Pcr 2
0.7 L

13
Problem 9-5:
a) Derive the solution for an imperfect clamped-free column (like that considered in
problem 9-1, following a similar derivation given in the notes for a pin-pin column in
the notes.

b) Find the ratio of current deflection amplitude to the amplitude of the initial
imperfection such that the resulting load is 80% of the theoretical buckling load of a
perfect column.

Problem 9-5 Solution:

a)

w  x  : shape of initial imperfection

w  x  : actual buckled shape

wo  x  : amplitude of initial imperfection

wo : end amplitude of actual imperfection

Moment equilibrium of imperfect column

EI  w  w  '' P  w  w o  0
Perfect column

w x 0

Assume that the initial imperfection is in the same shape as the buckling shaper
w x wo 1  cos O x 
w x wo 1  cos O x
From boundary condition

w L 0

14
 wo O 2 cos O L 0

2n 1
L
2

From moment equilibrium of imperfect column

2
EI w wo cos x Pwo 1 1 cos x 0

2
Pwo EI w wo
Perfect column

wo 0

S 2 EI
P EI O 2
4L2

Imperfect column

Pwo Pcr  wo  wo 
2
EI wo
P 2
1
4L wo
P wo
1
Pcr wo

P
b) When 0.8
Pcr

wo P
1 0.2
wo Pcr
wo
5
wo

15
Problem 9-6:
The pin-pin elastic column of length L (shown below) is an “I” section can buckle in either plane.
a) Determine the buckling load in terms of L, b1,b2, t and E. Assume that t<<b.

b) What should the ratio of b1/b2 be in order for the probability of buckling in either of
the buckling planes to be the same?

Bonus: What could happen for very large width to thickness ratio?
P

b2

b1

EI L

Problem 9-6 Solution:

a) The moment s of inertia for an “I” shape cross-section is

2
1 3 §b ·
I yy tb2  2b1t ¨ 2 ¸
12 2¹
1 2
tb2  b2  6b1 
12

1 3 1
I zz t b2  2 tb13
12 12
1 3
tb1
6

16
 If I yy I zz , the column will buckle in x-z plane

S 2 EI yy S 2E
Pcr 2 2
tb2 2  b2  6b1 
l 12l

If I yy I zz , the column will buckle in x-y plane

S 2 EI zz S 2E
Pcr 2 2
tb13
l 6l

b) For the probability of buckling in either of the planes to be the same , we want
I yy I zz

1 2 1 3
tb2  b2  6b1  tb1
12 6
3
b1 b1 1
3 0
b2 b2 2
The only physical solution is

b1
1.81
b2

c) If b1 !! t, b2 !! t , then local plate buckling my develop.

17
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2.080J / 1.573J Structural Mechanics

Fall 2013

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