Chapter 6 Applied Stability

CHAPTER 6 APPLIED STABILITY
The following chapters of these Esdep lecture notes are compulsory:

6.3 part 2 Column Buckling
6.3 part 3 Lateral Buckling

6.6.1 Buckling of real structural elements I

6.6.2 part 3 Torsional buckling
6.6.2 part 4 Flexural-torsional buckling
6.6.2 part 5 Lateral torsional buckling
6.6.2 part 7 Improving the buckling resistance
6.6.2 part 8 Frame instability

All the other parts are not part of this course. The complete Esdep lecture notes can be
found on internet.
Course Contents
APPLIED STABILITY
Lecture 6.1 : Concepts of Stable and Unstable Elastic Equilibrium
Lecture 6.2 : General Criteria for Elastic Stability
Lecture 6.3 : Elastic Instability Modes
Lecture 6.4 : General Methods for Assessing Critical Loads
Lecture 6.5 : Iterative Methods for Solving Stability Problems
Lecture 6.6.1 : Buckling of Real Structural Elements I
Lecture 6.6.2 : Buckling of Real Structural Elements II
Page 1of 1 Course Contents
15-8-2011 http://www.fgg.uni-lj.si/kmk/esdep/master/wg06/toc.htm
Previous| Next | Contents
ESDEP WG 6
APPLIED STABILITY
Lecture 6.3: Elastic Instability Modes
OBJECTIVE/SCOPE
To describe the elementary elastic instability modes and to derive the principal critical loads for columns, beams and
plates.
PREREQUISITES
Lecture 6.1: Concepts of Stable and Unstable Elastic Equilibrium
RELATED LECTURES
Lectures 6.6: Buckling of Real Structural Elements
Lecture 7.7: Buckling Lengths
RELATED WORKED EXAMPLES
Worked Example 6.1: Energy Methods I
Worked Example 6.2: Energy Methods II
SUMMARY
This lecture explains how critical buckling loads are determined by solution of the differential equilibrium equations
for the structure. The critical loads, assuming simple loading and boundary conditions, are then calculated for the
principal cases, namely:
flexural buckling of columns.
lateral buckling of beams.
buckling of plates.
1. INTRODUCTION
Instability can occur in all systems or members where compression stresses exist. The simplest type of buckling is that
of an initially straight strut compressed by equal and opposite axial forces (Figure 1).
Page 1of 15 Previous | Next | Contents
15-8-2011 http://www.fgg.uni-lj.si/kmk/esdep/master/wg06/l0300.htm

Other buckling modes also of great practical interest in steel constructions, are:
lateral buckling of beams (Figure 2).
plate buckling (Figure 3).
shell buckling (Figure 4).


The fundamental differences in behaviour of columns, plates and shells are shown in Figure 5. For behaviour in the
elastic range the critical load and the maximum load carried by an actual (imperfect) column are in reasonable
agreement. For the plate, if the postcritical strength is achieved with acceptably small lateral deflections, a greater load
than the critical load might be acceptable. For thin-walled cylinders, however, the maximum load in the real
(imperfect) situation is much less than the theoretical critical load.

For compressed struts, the flexural buckling illustrated in Figure 1 is not the only possible buckling mode. In some
cases, for example, a torsional buckling (Figure 6) or a combination of torsional and flexural buckling can be seen; if a
member is thin-walled, one can also observe a plate buckling of the elements of the cross-section (Figure 7) which can
interact with the overall buckling of the member.


Determination of the critical load using bifurcation theory takes advantage of the fact that the critical situation is
associated with a neutral equilibrium condition; equilibrium in a slightly deflected shape can, therefore, be established,
leading to differential equations which are simple to manage, at least for certain classes of structures. The critical load
gives information on the level of stability of a system, or member; it is also used as a basic value (bound) for the
calculation of the ultimate load for structures in danger of instability, as shown in later lectures. In this lecture, the
critical loads are calculated by solving the differential equilibrium equations describing the phenomenon. These
solutions are available only for the simplest cases of loading and boundary conditions. A general method for assessing
critical loads, based on an energy approach is given in Lecture 6.4.
2. FLEXURAL BUCKLING OF COLUMNS
At the critical load, the stable equilibrium of the straight column is at its limit and there exists a slightly deflected
configuration of the column which can also satisfy equilibrium (Figure 1). For this configuration, the bending moment
at any cross-section is given, for a pin-ended strut, by:
M =N.y (1)
Using the differential equation given by simple bending theory, and considering large deflections:
(2)
or the approximation
(3)
which is reasonably accurate for loads approaching critical load and for small deflections; by introducing Equation (1)
this becomes:
(4)
where EI
z
is the bending rigidity of the column in the plane of buckling.

The general solution of this equation is:
y =A sin kx +B cos kx (5)
where
k
2
= (6)

(only positive solutions, i.e. compression forces, are of interest).
A and B are constants of integration which must be adjusted to satisfy the boundary conditions:
y =0 for x =0 (7a)
and
y =0 for x =l (7b)
The first boundary condition gives B =0; the second one gives:
A sin kl =0 (8)
which requires either A =0 (in this case there is no deflection), or sin kl=0, i.e.
kl =n (9)
where n is any integer.
Finally, the critical load is obtained from the following:
N
cr,n
= (10)

Figure 8 shows the first three buckling modes (n =1, 2 and 3 respectively).

Normally, the smallest value of kl, and therefore of the critical load N
cr
, which satisfies Equation (9) is obtained by
taking n =1; this critical load is called the Euler load; in the case where bracing is used, higher buckling modes may
be decisive.
The critical load for a pin-ended column was calculated by Leonhard Euler in 1744. Historically speaking, it is the
first solution given to a stability problem. The same procedure may be used for cases with other boundary conditions.
The critical load given above does not take into account the effect of shear forces; this can be done by adding the shear
deformation:
= (11)
where V, the shear force, is given by:
V =N (12)
and A
v
is the shear area of the cross-section.

By adding the change in slope of the deflection curve produced by the shear force, the differential equation of the
buckling phenomena becomes:
(13)
which gives the critical load:
N
cr
*
= (14)

Thus, owing to the action of the shear forces, the critical load is reduced when compared to Euler's load. In the case of
solid columns, the influence of shear can generally be neglected; however, in the case of laced or battened
compression members, this effect may become of practical importance and should be considered.
3. LATERAL BUCKLING
When a beam is bent about its strong axis, it normally deflects only in that plane. However, if the beam does not have
sufficient lateral stiffness or lateral supports to ensure that this occurs, then it may buckle out of the plane of loading,
as shown in Figure 2.
For a straight elastic beam, there is no out-of-plane displacements until the applied moment reaches its critical value,
when the beam buckles by deflecting laterally and twisting (Figure 2); lateral buckling, therefore, involves lateral
bending and torsion. For the simplest case, of a doubly symmetric simply supported beam, loaded in its stiffer
principal plane by equal moments (Figure 2), the differential equilibrium equations of the beam are as follows:
minor axis bending:
(15)
torsion:
E.I
t
. (16)

where EI
z
is the weak axis bending rigidity; M is the lateral bending moment induced by the twisting, , of the
beam; GI
t
is the Saint-Venant torsional rigidity; EI
w
is the warping rigidity and M is the torque induced by the
lateral deflection v.
When these equations are both satisfied at all points of the beam, then the deflected and twisted position is one of
equilibrium which can be found by differentiating Equation (16) and substituting Equation (15); then, the differential
equation of lateral buckling is given by:
E.I
w
(17a)

or
C
w
(17b)
This expression was established, for the first time in 1899, by Prandtl. The general solution of this equation is:
=A
1
sinh k
1
x +B
1
cosh k
1
x +A
2
sin k
2
x +B
2
cos k
2
x (18)

where
= (19)
=- (20)
in which A
1
, A
2
, B
1
and B
2
are constants of integration which must satisfy the boundary conditions:

=0 for x =0 (21a)
and
=0 for x =l (21b)
=0 for x =0 (22a)
and
=0 for x =l (22b)
Equations (21) and (22) show that, in the case of a so-called simply supported beam, the supports must prevent both
lateral deflection and twist but the section is free to warp at the ends.
The four boundary conditions give:
A
1
=B
1
=B
2
=0 (23)

and
A
2
sin k
2
l =0 (24)

which requires either A
2
=0 (in this case there is no twist), or

sin k
2
l =0, i.e: k
2
l =n (25)

where n is any integer.
Substituting Equation (25) into Equation (20) and rearranging, using the smallest value of k
2
l gives the critical
moment for the beam:
(26)
4. BUCKLING OF PLATES
The simplest example of this phenomenon is that of a rectangular plate with four edges simply supported (prevented
from displacing out-of-plane but free to rotate) loaded in compression as shown in Figure 3. As for compressed struts,
the plate remains flat until the applied load reaches its critical value, at which time it buckles with lateral deflections.
The differential equation for plate buckling, established by Bryan in 1891, gives for the case shown in Figure 3:
(27)
where D is the bending rigidity of the plate:
D =Et
3
/{12(1-
2
)} (28)

The general solution of this equation is:
w =A sin mx/a . sin n/b (29)
which satisfies the boundary conditions:
w = =0 for x =0 (30a)
and
w = =0 for x =a (30b)
w = =0 for y =0 (31a)
and
w = =0 for y =b (31b)
Substituting Equation (29) in Equation (27), gives:
N = (32)
where m and n are the number of half-waves in the directions x and y respectively.
The smallest value of N, and therefore the critical load N
cr
, will be obtained by taking n equal to 1. This shows that the
plate buckles in such a way that there can be several half-waves in the direction of compression but only one half-
wave in the perpendicular direction. Therefore, the expression for the critical load becomes:
N
cr
=k (33)

where:
k = (34)
If the plate buckles in one half-wave, then m =1 and k acquires its minimum value (equal to 4), when a =b, i.e. for a
square plate.
Similarly, if the plate buckles into two half-waves, then m =2 and k reaches its minimum value (also equal to 4),
when a =2b.
Similarly assuming m =3, 4,..., one obtains the series of curves given in Figure 9. It is interesting to note that, at the
values 2, 6,... of the ratio a/b, there is a coincidence of two buckling modes.

5. CONCLUDING SUMMARY
For compression members, such as struts, beams, plates and shells, the critical load is the upper bound value for
the ultimate load of an actual (imperfect) member.
The critical load is associated with the neutral equilibrium condition of the member.
For simple cases, the critical loads may be calculated by solving the differential equilibrium equations
describing the phenomena.
6. ADDITIONAL READING
1. Timoshenko, S.P. and Gere, J .M., "Theory of Elastic Stability", McGraw-Hill, 2nd edition, New York, 1961.
2. Allen, H.G. and Bulson, P.S., "Background to Buckling", McGraw-Hill, London, 1980.
3. Shanley, F.R., "Strength of Materials", McGraw-Hill, New York, 1957.
4. Murray, N.W., "Introduction to the Theory of Thin-Walled Structures", Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1984.
ESDEP WG 6
APPLIED STABILITY
Lecture 6.6.1: Buckling of Real Structural
Elements I
OBJECTIVE
To explain the effects of material plasticity and of geometric and structural imperfections on the buckling load
resistance of columns.
PREREQUISITES
Lectures 2.3: Engineering Properties of Steels
RELATED LECTURES
Lectures 7.5: Columns
Lectures 7.10: Beam Columns
Lecture 7.12: Trusses and Lattice Girders
SUMMARY
The inelastic buckling of an idealised strut, i.e. a perfectly straight strut without residual stresses, is discussed with
ideal rigid-plastic, ideal elastic-plastic and real material behaviours being considered. The influence of geometric
imperfections and residual stresses is examined, both separately and in combination.
1. INTRODUCTION
Real structural members do not behave exactly as elastic bifurcation theory predicts. Firstly, the material is not
infinitely elastic; as a result elasto-plastic behaviour and inelastic buckling occur. Secondly, the structural members
are affected by several kinds of imperfections (mainly of geometric and/or mechanical nature), which may severely
weaken the carrying resistance. The rapid change in deformation with increase in applied load (characteristic of the
buckling phenomenon) also gives rise to second order effects which, when combined with material inelasticity, result
in overall non-linear behaviour of the structure.
In order to illustrate the main features of real responses, this lecture analyses the simplest type of buckling behaviour,
i.e. that of a pin-ended, end loaded strut having a doubly symmetrical cross-section (column flexural buckling).
Lecture 6.3 identified the parameters that govern the elastic behaviour of a geometrically perfect strut, i.e. one with no
initial out-of-straightness or eccentricity of loading. This lecture firstly examines the effect of inelastic material
behaviour in the absence of any kind of imperfections. Then, the influence of imperfect geometry and residual stresses
are studied in turn. Finally, the effect of all features taken together is analysed.
Page 1of 20 ESDEP WG 6
2. EFFECT OF MATERIAL PLASTICITY
The behaviour of carbon and low-alloy steel grades is usually represented by means of the ideal elastic-plastic stress-
strain relationship shown in Figure 1a. For situations in which there is little elastic deformation, the ideal rigid-plastic
model, shown in Figure 1b, adequately represents the material behaviour (the plateau represents the yield stress f
y
).

2.1 Ideal Rigid-Plastic Behaviour Model
Rigid-plastic behaviour assumes that neither lateral nor axial deformation takes place at low values of the axial load,
N. Each cross-section experiences the same uniformly distributed compressive stress =N/A and axial deformation is
only possible when reaches the yield stress f
y
; the corresponding axial load is termed the "squash load" and is given
as :
N
pl
=A f
y
(1)

At this stage, any slight disturbance results in a lateral displacement giving rise to an additional bending moment. The
member collapses with the deformation confined to a plastic hinge at some point along its length (Figure 2a); the
stress distribution is bi-rectangular (Figure 2b), plastic deformation occurring in tension as well as compression. The
buckled member remains in equilibrium provided N becomes lower than the squash load; in this case the compressive
yield stress is no longer attained over the entire cross-section. The larger the lateral displacement, the larger the
bending moment at the plastic hinge and thus the smaller the coincident axial load (Figure 2c).

2.2 Ideal Elastic-Plastic Behaviour Model
As long as the elastic critical buckling load N
cr
is smaller than the squash load N
p1
, the member remains straight and
undergoes elastic axial deformation. When collapse occurs by elastic critical bending at a load N =N
cr
, the resulting
lateral deflection induces bending moments, that increase the stress at the concave side of the member and decrease it
at the convex side. Yielding occurs, in the central part of the member, in compression and more rarely in tension.
When, on the other hand, the squash load N
p1
is reached prior to the elastic critical buckling load N
cr
, the behaviour is
similar to that of the rigid-plastic strut, but with additional elastic axial and bending deformations. The failure load, in
this case, is the squash load, N
p1
.
2.3 Strength Curve for an Ideal Strut
Elastic column buckling analysis emphasizes the influence of the slenderness, =l/i, on the resistance; l is the strut
buckling length (see Lecture 7.7), equal to the member length when the strut is pin-ended, and is the radius
of gyration for the plane of flexural buckling considered. Plotting the average compressive stress,
k
, at failure against
the slenderness, , gives a clear understanding of the relationship between the two types of behaviour (see Figure 3a).
Elastic critical buckling is represented by the hyperbola =
cr
=
2
E/
2
; its range of application is limited by the
plastic squashing line =f
y
. The two lines intersect at the slenderness value
1
, termed reference slenderness, such
that
2
E/
1
2
=f
y
, which gives:

1
= (2)


Thus, collapse occurs by plastic squashing for <
1
, and by elastic buckling when >
1
. Usually the curve is drawn
in a normalized form (Figure 3b), where is plotted against = /
1
, so that plastic squashing ( =1)
and elastic buckling intersect at .
2.4 Effects of the Real Elastic-Plastic Behaviour of the Material
The actual stress-strain diagram of some structural steel grades is shown in Figure 4.

Compared to the ideal elastic-plastic behaviour, three main differences are evident:
a) at high strains, the material may undergo strain-hardening.
b) the strain is limited to a maximum value, at which point the material breaks.
c) there may be no clearly defined yield point.
As buckling does not require large material ductility, point (b) is usually irrelevant.
Strain-hardening does not affect the first yield but contributes to an increase in the collapse load. This effect is
obviously more marked at low slenderness values, where plastic deformation is predominant, and should raise the
corresponding portion of the column strength curve (Figure 3a). In practice, the beneficial effect due to strain-
hardening is neglected.
Different steel alloys exhibit different stress-strain behaviours; high strength steels, in particular, do not usually have a
clearly defined yield point and can be classified as follows:
1. Those having stress-strain curves with an elastic range restricted to the limit of proportionally
p
, with the yield
plateau at =f
y
>
p
(Figure 5a).

2. Those having a similar elastic range but no yield plateau, strain hardening being experienced throughout the
entire inelastic range. In this case the yield stress, f
y
, is generally taken as the 0.2% proof-stress (Figure 5b).
This lack of a clearly defined yield point has the following results:
A slender strut (
p
, where
p
= ) will collapse by elastic buckling as long as
cr
does not exceed
p
.

A very stocky member fails by axial plastic squashing without lateral deflection.
In the range of intermediate slenderness ratios (
p
), the stiffness of the material in resisting stress >
p

decreases progressively as the stress increases beyond
p
; inelastic buckling can occur at a load below both
squash load and the elastic critical load.


The strut resistance curve becomes that shown in Figure 6 (strain-hardening has been disregarded).

3. STRENGTH OF REAL STRUTS
The previous sections considered highly idealized strut models which do not represent the real responses of
compression members, because of the unavoidable imperfections resulting from any manufacturing process. The
following sections consider the effect of these imperfections on real structural response; the imperfections are firstly
considered independently, and then in combination as would arise in an actual structure.
3.1 Effect of Geometric Imperfections
Geometric imperfections correspond either to lack of straightness of the structural member (Figure 7a), or to
eccentricities of the applied load (Figure 7b).

Buckling is characterised by a predominant displacement field associated with the buckled shape of the member; any
initial deflection will, therefore, affect instability as will any eccentricity of the applied loading. The resulting
destabilizing secondary effects reduce the load-carrying resistance, compared to that of a perfect member.
Because these imperfections are in the range of normal fabrication tolerances, they are generally not visible and cannot
be quantified precisely beforehand; they must, however, be taken into account in the design in an appropriate way.
The two types of geometric imperfections shown in Figure 7, are now considered:
the initial lack-of-straightness of the strut in the plane of buckling.
the accidental eccentricity of the presumed axial load.
3.1.1 Initial out-of-straightness
The initial out-of-straightness of a pin-ended strut (Figure 7a) is also termed "initial crookedness" or "initial
curvature". It causes a secondary bending moment as soon as any compression load is applied, which in turn leads to
further bending deflection and a growth in the amplitude of the lever arm of the external end compression forces; this
results in geometrically non-linear behaviour. A stable deflected shape is possible as long as the external moment, i.e.
the product of the load and the lateral deflection, does not exceed the internal moment resistance of any section.
Column buckling in the presence of an initial curvature is therefore by divergence of equilibrium, as opposed to the
bifurcation type of instability typical of ideal compression members.
Any cross-section of the strut experiences combined bending and axial load, whatever the amount of loading. Because
geometric linearity is no longer valid (equilibrium requires consideration of the deflected shape), the effects of
bending and axial load cannot be simply superimposed in order to describe the actual response.
For some elementary loading and support conditions, a direct procedure can be used, based on integration of the
appropriate equilibrium differential equation describing the deflected shape. The fundamental equilibrium equation for
a strut having an initial elastic curvature v
o
(x) in the buckling plane, is as follows (see Figure 7a):
(3)
where v(x) is the additional buckling deflection associated with the axial load N. Because the first buckling mode of a
pin-ended strut is a sine half-wave, the initial curvature is similarly chosen; it is then easy to show that the amplitude
of the total deflection v
t
at the critical section (at x =0,5 L in this case) is as follows:
v
t
=v
o
/(1 - N/N
cr
) (4)

where N
cr
=
2
EI
z
/L
2
is the critical column buckling load. The axial load, therefore, magnifies the initial out-of-
straightness and the first-order bending moment Nv
o
by an amplification factor 1/(1 - N/N
cr
):
M =Nv
t
=Nv
o
/(1 - N/N
cr
) (5)

Figure 8 (curve OAB) plots the axial load N against the total lateral deflection v
t
in the buckling plane. The deflection
tends to infinity as N approaches the elastic critical load N
cr
, while an infinite tension load would be necessary to
straighten the strut.

The distribution of bending moment along the member increases with the lateral deflection. Bending moment and
stresses are the greatest at the critical sections; on the concave side of the strut, compressive stresses due to axial load
and bending moment superimpose and the strut experiences the greatest stress. First yield will occur at this point as the
axial load is steadily increased; the value of N corresponding to first yielding, termed N
y
, constitutes the limit of
validity C of the elastic response O'AB (Figure 8).
Any further increase of N above N
y
results in a spreading of yielding, both along the strut and into the cross-section
(Figure 9). This results in a further degradation of the strut stiffness, such that a maximum load N
K
is attained, at
which the strut fails (point D in Figure 8). The ultimate load carrying resistance is hence a function of two sources of
flexural stiffness deterioration: the axial load (instability) and the spread of yielding (plasticity). The stress
distributions across the strut cross-section at stages C and D are shown in Figure 10. Usually the concave side of the
strut does not yield in tension at collapse.

The post-collapse behaviour DE is asymptotic to the rigid-plastic response GH (see Figure 2c). The latter is plotted in
Figure 8, assuming that N
pl
<N
cr
. Obviously the yield load N
y
and the ultimate load N
K
have N
cr
and N
pl
as upper
bounds (one may indeed have N
cr
>N
pl
or N
cr
<N
pl
). In any case the ultimate load will never exceed the load N
i

where both elastic and rigid-plastic responses intersect (point I). How close N
y
and N
u
are to N
cr
and N
pl
depends on
the slenderness of the strut and on the amplitude of the initial crookedness.
The influence of both slenderness and lack-of-straightness on the elastic-plastic response is shown in Figure 11 for a
rectangular steel section; the following conclusions are drawn:
a) Whatever the slenderness, the larger the initial crookedness, the smaller the ultimate load.
b) For a specified value of the relative out-of-straightness (v
o
/L), the smaller the slenderness, the steeper
the elastic behaviour.
c) The post-collapse behaviour is a slowly descending curve for slender struts with any tolerable initial
out-of-straightness.
d) For stocky members, the post-collapse response is still a descending curve, the steepness of which
becomes greater as the initial crookedness decreases.


Provided the initial curvature is known beforehand, (if, for instance, it can be measured), it is possible to construct an
ultimate resistance curve from the calculated collapse loads. Such a curve is of the form (a) shown in Figure 12. If the
initial curvature is similar to the buckling mode, the resistance curve will start from
K
=f
y
for vanishing slenderness
and lie below that for initially straight struts, though approaching the latter, as slenderness increases. Indeed, for very
stocky members, the influence of initial curvature is negligible and the plastic squash load is still the ultimate load. On
the other hand, very slender struts exhibit an elastic critical load N
cr
much lower that the squash load N
pl
; in such
cases, the point C of Figure 8 may be well up the elastic response curve, so that the collapse load is close to the elastic
critical load. The influence of initial crookedness is especially marked for intermediate slenderness ratios; the greatest
loss of resistance (strength) occurs in the vicinity of
1
, where plastic squashing and elastic buckling are nearly
coincident and therefore interact the most.

If the collapse criterion is chosen as the first yield load N
y
instead of the maximum load N
K
, the strength curve will be
lower but of similar shape (curve b - Figure 12).
3.1.2 Eccentricity of loading
An end compressive load, N, applied with an eccentricity, v
o
, to an initially straight pin-ended strut (Figure 7b) will
induce a first-order bending moment in the strut which will begin to deflect laterally in a similar manner to the initially
crooked strut analysed earlier.
The differential equilibrium equation in this case, is as follows:
(6)
The sole deviation from Equation (3) is that the initial imperfection v
o
is not a function of x. From the integration of
Equation (6) it can be seen that the first-order bending moment M
0
=N v
o
is amplified by a factor =
.
The amplification factors associated with the initial sine crookedness and the loading eccentricity are close to each
other for the range of N/N
cr
values encountered in practice. Therefore, the load-deflection response for an
eccentrically compressed initially straight strut is similar to that plotted in Figure 8, except that the response curve
starts at the origin of the axes.
Unlike the initial curvature, which is strongly dependent on the strut length, the loading eccentricity is more related to
the section size. In addition, first-order bending is constant over the entire member length so that bending effects are
likely to make the ultimate strength of very stocky members lower than the plastic squash load, giving, therefore, the
form of strength curve (c) plotted in Figure 12.
3.2 Effect of Residual Stresses
Structural rolled steel shapes and plates have residual stresses locked in them, due to uneven cooling after rolling; so
also do welded built-up members as the consequence of local heat input and cooling of the weld material and the
surrounding parent material. Similarly residual stresses exist in cold-formed sections, due to the large plastic
deformations that have occurred during the forming process. For non-loaded members in equilibrium, the residual
stresses must be an autostress state.
The distribution and the magnitude of the residual stresses depend on many parameters, (see Lectures 7.5.1 and 7.5.2);
in rolled and welded built-up sections of regular size, for instance, tensile residual stresses occur in the regions that are
the last to cool down; they are counterbalanced by compressive stresses in the remaining part of the cross-section.
Provided the wall thickness of these sections is not too large, it can usually be assumed that the magnitude of the
residual stresses is constant over the wall thickness. A typical residual stress distribution for I-sections is plotted in
Figure 13a.

Residual stresses result in early first yielding; this occurs before the average applied compressive stress attains the
material yield stress f
y
. In fact onset of yielding is achieved in the fibre(s) with peak compressive residual stress
r,c
at
a load N
y
for which
p
+
r,c
=f
y
.

Up to this loading level, the behaviour is elastic; the uniformly distributed applied stress

p
superimposes on the
residual stress distribution
r,c
. Any additional loading beyond N
y
induces the spread of yielding in the cross-section.
Yielded fibres have a reduced stiffness compared to the remaining elastic ones, because they experience specific
strains larger than the yield strain
y
. Consequently the flexural stiffness of the strut is constant up to the first
yielding; it then decreases progressively for larger loading (Figure 13e) to vanish entirely at the plastic squash load
(under the assumption that strain-hardening is disregarded). The entire cross-section yields when the average applied
stress equals the material yield stress. The average applied axial stress
K
is plotted against average axial strain
(shortening/length) in Figure 14. This graph is similar to the - curve for steel with no clearly defined yield point
but with a yield plateau (Figure 5a). It behaves as if the compressed stub column having residual stresses was made
with a fictitious steel having a stress-strain relationship and a limit of proportionality
p
which is different to the
material limit of proportionality because of the presence of residual stresses.

The collapse load of a stub column is, therefore, not affected by residual stresses, and still equals the plastic squash
load. Similarly, very slender struts, whose critical buckling stress does not exceed
p
, buckle elastically and are not
affected by residual stresses. The effect of residual stresses is most marked in the range of intermediate slenderness; in
this case premature yielding reduces the bending stiffness and the struts buckle inelastically at a load below both the
elastic critical buckling load and the plastic squash load. The corresponding resistance (strength) curve is of the form
shown in Figure 6; it must, however, be kept in mind that the coordinates represent the average applied stress and axial
strain respectively, i.e.
p
is substituted for
p
.

The greatest loss of strength resulting from the effect of residual stresses is again at
1
.

3.4 Combined Effect of Imperfections
All the effects analysed separately above occur simultaneously in practice. Initial curvature, initial eccentricity of
loading, residual stresses and lack of a clearly defined yield point lower the column resistance curve for all or part of
the slenderness range. On the other hand, strain hardening is likely to raise the resistance curve, although only the
range of low slenderness values is affected. The beneficial effect so obtained usually does more than compensate for
the loss of resistance due to accidental eccentricities; in any case the column strength curve is considered as having a
cut-off at , so that some strength reserve is ignored.
Tests and numerical investigation demonstrate clearly that:
a) The separate influences of residual stresses and initial crookedness cannot be simply added to get a good assessment
of their combined influence on the ultimate resistance.
b) For intermediate slenderness ratios and low residual stresses, the combined influence is normally less than the sum
of the parts, whereas for other cases it can be more.
c) Variations in the shape of the residual stress pattern result in differences in column resistance; these are, however,
smaller for initially crooked columns than for initially straight ones.
d) The influence of both lack-of-straightness and residual stresses is higher for columns with intermediate slenderness
ratios. In this range squash loads and critical loads are nearly coincident; the ultimate resistance depends on the
flexural stiffness, the material yield strength, the amplitude and distribution of residual stresses and the initial
crookedness. The interaction between both these latter imperfections can result in a large drop in ultimate resistance,
compared to the axial load resistance of the perfect column.
Because all the deviations from the ideal strut and material are subject to statistical variations, it is impossible to
predict accurately the real resistance of a specified standard strut shape. For design purposes, lower bound resistance
curves are used which ensure, to a specified probability, that the calculated buckling loads do not overestimate the
actual ultimate resistance.
An initially straight axially loaded strut, made of an ideal elastic-plastic material, and having no residual stresses
can fail either by plastic squashing for <
1
or by elastic column buckling for >
1
.

This "ideal" resistance (strength) is lower in practice because of geometric and structural imperfections such as
initial crookedness, eccentricity of the loading, residual stresses and lack of a clearly defined yield point.
Some increase in resistance occurs in the very low slenderness range as a result of material strain hardening; it
is, however, usually disregarded so that the ultimate load of very stocky columns is the plastic squash load.
Imperfections result in a lower resistance at intermediate values of slenderness; the greatest loss of resistance
occurs in the range of slenderness values
1
, where plastic squash loads and elastic critical buckling loads
are nearly coincident and therefore interact the most.
The effect of imperfections is small in the range of very large slenderness values and the ultimate load is close
to the elastic critical buckling load.
The slenderness ratio is the geometric parameter on which assessment of the nature of the behaviour and of the
collapse mode should be based.
1. Ballio G. and Mazzolani F., "Theory and Design of Steel Structures", Chapman and Hall, London, 1983.
2. Dowling P.J ., Knowles P. and Owens, G.W., "Structural Steel Design", Butterworths, London, 1988.
3. Galambos T.V. (editor), "SSRC Guide to Stability Design Criteria for Metal Structures", 4th Edition, J ohn
Wiley and Sons, New York, 1988.
4. McGuire W., "Steel Structures", Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N-J ., 1968.
5. Picard A. and Beaulieu D., "Calcul des charpentes en acier", Institut Canadien de la Construction en Acier,
1991.
ESDEP WG 6
APPLIED STABILITY
Lecture 6.6.2: Buckling of Real Structural
Elements II
OBJECTIVE/SCOPE
To extend and generalise to other instability phenomena the conclusions drawn in Lecture 6.6.1 on column buckling.
PREREQUISITES
Lecture 6.6.1: Buckling of Real Structural Elements I
RELATED LECTURES
Lecture 7.3: Local Buckling
Lectures 7.5: Columns
Lectures 7.10: Beam Columns
Lectures 8: Plates and Shells
Lectures 9: Thin-Walled Construction
SUMMARY
Plate buckling and types of buckling involving torsional deformation are considered, as is the basic type of shell
buckling, i.e. the case of an axially compressed cylinder. For each type of buckling a description of the basic
phenomena is given; the behaviour is analysed in terms of the pre-buckling, post-buckling and collapse behaviour, and
the governing geometric parameters are identified. Comment is also briefly made on how members can be
strengthened to prevent buckling failures.
1. INTRODUCTION
The influence of imperfections, material plasticity and strain hardening on ultimate resistance, has been reviewed in
detail in the previous Lecture 6.6.1 with reference to column flexural buckling. This is the form of member instability
that has been most studied and an almost complete understanding of the phenomenon has been achieved.
Most of the conclusions drawn in the previous lecture are still valid, in general terms, for other forms of instability.
These forms are, however, characterised by different kinds of deformations, so that the nature of the imperfections that
most affect the ultimate resistance are different to flexural buckling; to gain an understanding of the real buckling
resistance of columns, therefore, the effect of imperfections on these different forms of instability must be analysed.
Plate buckling is first examined because it often occurs in the form of local buckling, i.e. buckling of section-plate
components; moreover, it helps to understand torsional column buckling, where buckling occurs with a twist of the
cross-section only. Column flexural-torsional buckling is then examined; this is well named because bending and
torsional deformations are always linked together as in the lateral-torsional buckling of beams. Buckling of shells is
also considered; this very complex phenomenon is illustrated by reference to the basic case of an axially loaded
cylindrical shell.
2. BUCKLING OF PLATES
Plate buckling occurs where thin-walled sections experience compressive stresses. This phenomenon is quite similar
to column buckling; it involves, however, elements of the member cross-section rather than displacement of the
section as a whole. Compressive stresses may arise not only from compressive axial load but also from bending of the
member, and even from patch loads (Figures 1a, 1b, and 1c). Local buckling may also occur in plates subject to shear
(Figure 1d), because shear results in compressive and tensile principal stresses

Cold-formed sections and thin plated sections are the most sensitive to local buckling.
The elastic buckling modes and corresponding critical stresses of compressed plates are derived from the small
deflected plate equations; their analysis has been carried out in Lecture 6.3.
It has long been recognised that the critical buckling load of a plate is not a satisfactory measure of the actual plate
resistance. Indeed, as soon as the plate tends to buckle, out-of-plane deflections result in membrane forces due to the
stretching of the mid-plane of the plate. To understand this behaviour let us consider an initially flat rectangular plate,
having all edges either simply supported, or clamped, and loaded in uniform uniaxial compression. Let us assume, in
addition, that the aspect ratio is such that the plate will buckle in a single half-wave mode (Figure 2). For the purpose
of this analysis the plate can be replaced by a system of strips in both orthogonal directions; the longitudinal strips are
compressed and are thus liable to buckle. Below the elastic critical plate buckling load, all the longitudinal strips are
straight because the plate remains flat; they maintain their initial stiffness and experience equal compression stress.
Once the plate buckles, the longitudinal strips close to the edge are constrained to remain straight while those away
from these edges are more prone to buckling; in other words the first ones retain their axial stiffness while the latter
lose a part of their initial stiffness.

The plate buckling causes an increase in length of the transverse strips because the longitudinal edges are restrained
against free shortening of the plate in the transverse direction; this causes tensile membrane forces in the transverse
strips, that exert a stabilising effect on the longitudinal strips (Figure 3). This explains why stable equilibrium states
can be reached by the plate beyond the elastic critical plate buckling load, with the result that large post-buckling
resistance may be possible provided the material does not yield prematurely. This is the fundamental difference
between plate behaviour and column buckling, which is not able to exhibit such a reserve of resistance.

When the plate buckles, in-plane and out-of-plane displacements interact, resulting in a non-linear behaviour. The
plate behaviour, in the large deflection regime, can only be deduced from both the compatibility and equilibrium non-
linear plate equations. It is represented, in Figure 4, by the plot of the mean applied stress against plate lateral
deflection, and end shortening; the latter plot is bi-linear when the plate is initially perfectly flat, and the slope
represents the axial stiffness of the plate; the post-buckling axial stiffness depends on the in-plane restraints offered by
the boundary but varies usually from 40 to 75% of the initial stiffness. The larger the restraints against in-plane
displacements of the boundary (primarily of the longitudinal edges), the larger the stabilising effect resulting from the
membrane forces, and the larger the possible post-buckling reserve of resistance.

The ultimate load is finally reached when the stiffness of the plate has sufficiently deteriorated due to material
yielding. Plate buckling results, as mentioned above, in a non-uniform membrane stress distribution across the plate
width with peak stresses at the longitudinal edges (Figure 5). Yielding will, therefore, occur first at these edges and
spread rapidly until collapse is reached.

The post-buckling resistance is exhibited especially by plates having slender proportions and which, to a large extent,
behave elastically. The ultimate load, in this case, may amount to several times the elastic critical load. For plates of
low and intermediate slenderness, plate behaviour is mainly affected by material plasticity; indeed the more stocky the
plate, the more yielding will tend to precede plate buckling with the result that the ultimate resistance may be even
lower than the elastic critical load.
Plate manufacturing and fabrication processes result in unavoidable geometric imperfections and residual stresses. In
most cases, both have an effect on the pre- and post-buckling behaviour.
The fundamental geometric imperfection is the initial out-of-flatness, which, as would be expected, significantly
affects plate buckling. Due to lack of flatness, the out-of-plane plate deformations increase from the onset of loading.
The magnitude of out-of-flatness influences the load-deflection plate response; however, as long as the response is
elastic, plates with any level of imperfection will approach the post-buckling behaviour of ideally flat plates (Figure
4a). In the load-end shortening plot, the effect of out-of-flatness is to round off the "knee" at the critical stress (Figure
4b). Not only the magnitude but also the pattern of the initial out-of-flatness may influence the plate response; the
more similar the buckling mode is to this pattern, the more plate buckling occurs and proceeds smoothly. On the other
hand, any out-of-flatness which differs from the buckling mode tends to delay plate buckling; however, when this
occurs, it happens suddenly in a way termed 'snap-through'. Because of the random nature of the out-of-flatness
pattern (unknown at the design stage), it is usually conservatively assumed that the imperfection is close to the first
plate buckling mode.
The plate residual stresses also tend to reduce the initial axial stiffness and affect the yielding process.
Plate slenderness is the geometric parameter governing the plate ultimate resistance. The latter is generally represented
(Figure 6a) by a plot of the mean applied stress at failure against the slenderness parameter ' =b/t, "b" being the plate
width in the direction perpendicular to the compression.

An elastic initially flat plate should buckle for a critical stress:
o
cr
=k
o
[t
2
E/12 (1 - v
2
)] (1/')
2
(1)

where k
o
is the plate buckling coefficient and v the Poisson ratio. Due to material plasticity, the squash load provides
a limit to plate resistance and constitutes a cut-off limit to the elastic buckling curve. As explained above, however, the
ultimate average stress of a slender plate, i.e. a plate for which o
cr
is lower than the yield stress f
y
, exceeds the elastic
critical stress as a result of the post-buckling resistance; the ultimate stress curve thus lies higher than the critical stress
curve. The transition between squashing and plate buckling occurs when o
cr
=f
y
, that is for the following slenderness:
1
'
=t (2)

For a simply supported long plate, subject to uniform compression, the buckling coefficient is roughly k =4; the
corresponding value of
1
'
=1,9 amounts to between 56 and 46 for the usual steel grades S235 and S355. The
value of the buckling coefficient k, for other cases, depends on the plate aspect ratio, the type of loading and the
boundary conditions.
The existence of post-buckling resistance in a plate subject to shear can be physically explained as follows: a square
element, the edges of which are oriented at 45 to the plate edges, experiences tensile stresses, o
1
, on two opposite
edges and compressive stresses, o
2
, on the other two (Figure 7a); these compressive stresses can, therefore, induce
plate buckling in the form of elongated bulges oriented in the direction of the tensile stresses (Figure 7b). The elastic
critical shear stress, t
cr
, is given by an expression similar to o
cr
; again t
cr
depends on the aspect ratio and the edge
support conditions. Once the plate buckles in shear, the increase in compressive stresses is no longer possible while
the initial axial stiffness of the plate, in the direction in which the tensile component acts, is still nearly fully available.
Therefore, shear load increases are basically resisted by tensile stress increases and bulges consequently become
narrower. The plate behaves as a series of strips in the tension direction and develops a so-called tension field (Figure
7c). This field rotates when the applied stress increases, to line up more closely with the plate diagonal; the ultimate
shear load is reached when these strips yield. Here too, the in-plane restraints may appreciably influence the extent of
the post-buckling reserve of resistance.

It can be concluded, therefore, that initial out-of-flatness, residual stresses and strain hardening all affect the behaviour
and the ultimate resistance of plates; the effect is similar to that for column buckling, the sole but fundamental
difference being that, at high slenderness, the plate resistance curve approaches the post-buckling curve rather than the
critical buckling curve.
The above conclusions can be extended qualitatively to any portion of a plate which experiences compressive stresses;
quantitatively it can be said that the amount of post-buckling resistance may vary appreciably with the type of loading
and the kind of boundary conditions.
Similarly to column resistance curves, plate resistance curves are usually plotted as normalised coordinates (Figure
6b): the mean ultimate stress is divided by the material yield stress, while the normalised plate slenderness is defined,
as for column buckling, in general terms:
p
=\(f
y
/o
cr
)

(3)
Using Equation (1), the normalised plate slenderness is as follows:
p
=(b/t)(1,05/\k)\f
y
/E

(4)

Accordingly,
p
=1 is the limit slenderness which corresponds to the transition between squashing and plate
buckling. The normalised slenderness includes the usual plate slenderness, ' =b/t, but is affected, through k, by the
aspect ratio of the plate, the type of loading and the boundary conditions. To account for actual imperfections, plate
resistance curves ought be lower bounds of the available test results.
3. TORSIONAL BUCKLING OF COLUMNS
Instability due to torsional buckling can only arise in special circumstances. This buckling type is illustrated by means
of a compressed strut composed of four identical outstands, giving a cruciform section (Figure 8); each outstand is a
flat thin plate, liable to buckle because of the compression loading. If such a plate was simply supported along the
column axis, it would buckle so that any line OA of the outstand, perpendicular to the longitudinal edges, would
remain approximately straight, though rotating about point 0. Because the outstands are identical, they should each
buckle at the same value of applied stress. It is thus possible to find a form of buckling in which any cross-section of
the cruciform strut does not distort, but rotates about 0. The four outstands continue to meet at right angles so that the
fact that they are joined rigidly along a common edge is not significant. This form of buckling, where the strut axis
remains straight but sections rotate is termed "torsional buckling".

Because torsion is involved in such a buckling process, the elastic critical buckling stress depends partly on the Saint-
Venant torsional rigidity and on the warping rigidity. In addition, the end torsional and warping restraints must be
reflected in the numerical factors used.
Torsional buckling can only properly occur when the shear centre and centroid of the cross-section are coincident, i.e,
only in symmetrical sections; thin-walled components will also obviously favour this form of buckling. Because
flexural buckling (usually termed column buckling) is still possible, each form must be examined to determine which
gives the lower critical stress.
As for flexural buckling, the elastic critical torsional buckling load is not an adequate measure of the carrying
resistance. One must again allow for geometric imperfections, residual stresses and for the effects of material plasticity
and strain hardening. Regarding the initial geometric imperfections, the initial twist of the strut and the lack of flatness
of the section components are understandably the most significant. Unlike flexural buckling, for which much
information is available, the ultimate resistance associated with torsional buckling cannot be assessed very accurately
because of the lack of sufficiently documented experiments and corresponding test results. Allowance for geometric
imperfections, residual stresses, material plasticity and strain hardening, parameters which reduce the ultimate load
below the elastic critical one, is based more on engineering judgement than on a fully justified procedure. It is
generally accepted that the procedure used for flexural buckling can be extended to torsional buckling by assuming
that the reduction in resistance due to imperfections and plasticity are similar in both cases, when referring to
normalised coordinates. The normalised slenderness is consistently defined as follows:
T
=\(f
y
/o
cr,T
)

(5)

where o
cr,T
is the elastic critical torsional buckling stress.

4. FLEXURAL-TORSIONAL BUCKLING
Flexural and torsional displacements are combined when the shear centre and centroid of the section are not
coincident. This results in a reduction of the critical buckling load compared to that associated with flexural buckling.
This phenomenon is particularly important for angles and channel sections.
To illustrate this form of buckling, a channel section is considered subject to a uniaxial compressive load at the
centroid, so that the end sections experience a uniform applied stress (Figure 9a). The section is assumed to be
proportioned so that the second moment of inertia, I
yy
, about yy axis, is larger than that about zz axis; the flexural
buckling about the zz axis is thus governing (Figure 9b). As soon as the strut tends to buckle in the direction yy, i.e. by
bending about the zz axis, its deflection v(x) produces a bending moment M(x) =Nv(x), giving rise to an associated
shear, V =dM/dx =N(dv(x)/dx). Everything happens as if the strut was subject to transverse distributed forces q=-dV
(x)/dx =-N(d
2
v(x)/dx
2
), acting in the plane yy containing the centroid G, and not in the plane zz containing the shear
centre C (Figure 9c). Therefore bending about the zz axis and the corresponding shear induce a torque moment dM
t
=
qz
o
dx, where z
o
is the distance between the centroid and the shear centre. This means that purely flexural buckling in
the yy plane is impossible, because bending and torque deformations are inevitably coupled. This form of buckling is
termed "flexural-torsional buckling".

Flexural-torsional buckling is governed by three equilibrium differential equations containing the derivatives of the
three functions: displacements v and w in the yy and zz planes and the twist . The flexural-torsional buckling load
thus depends on the usual boundary conditions for v and w at the ends (pin-ended or clamped) and on the twist and
warping restraints on .
In the usual case of a pin-ended strut, which is fully free to warp, i.e.v=v"=0,w=w"=0 and =" =0 at the ends, the
critical flexural-torsional buckling stress is as follows:
o
cr,FT
={o
cr,zz
+o
cr,T
\{(o
cr,T
- o
cr,zz
)
2
+o
cr,zz
. o
cr,T
(z
o
/r
o
)
2
]} / {2[1 - (z
o
/r
o
)
2
]} (6)

where y
o
and z
o
are the coordinates of the shear centre and . It is apparent that this value is always lower
than the flexural buckling stress, o
cr,zz
about the zz axis and the torsional buckling stress, o
cr,T
. It should also be
checked if it is also lower than the flexural buckling load o
cr,yy
about the yy axis which is the other root of the
characteristic equation.
It should be noted that for a doubly symmetrical section (z
o
=y
o
=r
o
=0), the roots are:

o
cr
=o
cr,yy
=o
cr,zz

and that the lowest of the three values - o
cr,T
, o
cr,zz
and o
cr,yy
- is the governing one.

Flexural-torsional buckling implies deformations due to both column flexural and column torsional buckling. The
associated ultimate resistance will thus be affected by all types of imperfections, which affect these two basic
phenomena.
As in the case of column torsional buckling, there is a lack of information on the loss of flexural-torsional buckling
strength due to imperfections, residual stress and material plasticity; again, the procedure used for flexural buckling is
generalised by using the same normalised strength curves, assuming the normalised slenderness is defined as:
FT
=\(f
y
/o
cr,FT
)

(7)

5. LATERAL-TORSIONAL BUCKLING OF BEAMS
When a beam is subject to major axis bending, either due to end moments or, more typically, due to transverse loads,
one of the flanges, along with an adjacent portion of web, is compressed and is, therefore, prone to buckling.
Buckling of the compression flange in the web plane is normally prevented by the web, because of the large rigidity of
the latter in its own plane; buckling of the flange in the flange plane is, therefore, most often critical because the web
provides only limited restraint in this direction. When the web is very slender, it is likely to be distorted so that the
restraint is negligible and lateral-torsional buckling is very close to flange buckling by bending about the weak axis of
the cross-section (Figure 10a). A stocky web, however, behaves roughly as a rigid plate element and lateral-torsional
buckling causes the section to twist (Figure 10b). Because of the rotation of the principal axes compared to their initial
direction, the resulting deformation is a combination of torsion and lateral bending.

For a perfect beam, loaded in the strong direction of bending, lateral-torsional buckling occurs for a critical value of
the maximum bending moment, or the maximum compressive stress. This value is affected by several factors: the
moment distribution along the beam (shape of the bending moment diagram), the boundary conditions (bending,
torque and warping restraints), the level of application of the transverse loads, and the possible non-symmetry of the
cross-section. As this buckling involves torsion and weak-axis bending, the critical bending moment will be expressed
in terms of the beam length L, the torsional and warping rigidity, GJ and EI
w
respectively, and the bending stiffness
about the weak axis, EI
z
.
The elastic critical bending moment of an I or H section, for example, is as follows:
. C
1
(8)

where C
1
and C
2
are coefficients allowing for the influence of the aforementioned factors and z
g
is the distance from
the shear centre to the point of application of the transverse loads. The elastic critical lateral-torsional buckling stress
is as follows:
o
cr,LT
=M
cr,LT
/ W
y
(9)

where W
y
is the elastic section modulus for bending about the strong axis.

In addition to material plasticity and residual stresses, geometric imperfections cause a loss in resistance compared to
the elastic critical load. Any imperfection which is liable to trigger off torsion and/or lateral bending is obviously of
concern. A recent statistical evaluation of test results, carried out when preparing background documents for Eurocode
3 [1], has demonstrated that the format of the ultimate resistance curves for flexural column buckling is quite
appropriate to represent the lateral-torsional buckling response, provided the curve parameters are suitably calibrated.
As for the previous forms of buckling, the normalised slenderness for lateral-torsional buckling is defined as:
LT
=\(f
y
/o
cr,LT
)

(10)

6. BUCKLING OF SHELLS
Shell buckling is probably the most complex instability phenomenon. Similar to plate buckling, it involves the cross-
sectional shape rather than displacement of the section as a whole. Compressive stresses, as before, can arise from
compressive axial load, bending and locally applied concentrated loads. In addition, however, shells can also be
subject to internal or external pressures (pipes, silos, tanks, off-shore jacket legs, etc.).
The simplest case to analyse is the axially compressed cylindrical shell (Figure 11); the elastic critical buckling stress
is as follows:
o
cr
=[1/ ] Et/r (11)

where t is the wall thickness, and r the radius of the cylinder. This formula is well known in the format, o
cr
=0,605
Et/r, valid for steel cylinders.

The load-shortening behaviour shows a drastic loss of carrying resistance as soon as the critical buckling load is
reached (Figure 12); when it buckles, the shell tends to a buckled shape, which is in equilibrium with an external
compression load usually much lower than the critical load. This is a general characteristic of shells, whatever the type
of shell and the type of loading; unlike plates, they are not able to exhibit any post-buckling reserve of resistance.

Even very small geometric imperfections cause a premature deviation from the load - displacement curve of the
perfect shell usually giving a significant reduction in the load carrying resistance (Figure 12). Elastic critical loads
cannot, therefore, be attained by real shells. The influence of imperfections on the ultimate load of shells is a very
complex problem which has been extensively researched.
According to classical theory of shell buckling, the perfect cylindrical shell can buckle either axisymmetrically - with
a succession of ring buckles - or in the form of a chessboard (Figure 13a, b); depending on the buckling circumstances,
the shell may achieve a diamond-like post-buckling configuration. To account for imperfections, design rules
traditionally use a knock-down factor, o, affecting the elastic critical shell buckling stress; values of o are derived
from tests conducted on large scale models.

According to ECCS Recommendations [2], the value of this factor depends only on the slenderness, r/t, of the shell
when imperfections are kept below a specified level. An additional partial safety factor, , is applied in the case of
cylindrical shells subject to meridional compression because of their especially unfavourable post-buckling behaviour.
The influence of the different types of imperfections on the ultimate resistance may vary greatly depending on the type
of shell and on the type of loading. A normalised resistance curve is then defined by plotting the ratio o/f
y
against the
normalised slenderness
s
(
s
=\(f
y
/oo
cr
), similar to the approach used for column and plate resistance curves
(Figure 14).

It should be noted that as
s
increases, the resistance curve approaches the critical resistance value (reduced by the
knock-down factor o).
7. IMPROVING THE BUCKLING RESISTANCE
The buckling resistance of a member, or of a section component, can be enhanced in a number of ways.
For a specified buckling form, a reduction of the slenderness ratio will result in a higher ultimate load. This will
usually be achieved by increasing the cross-sectional dimensions; it can also be done by distributing the material
differently about the centroid, while keeping the cross-section area constant; doing this, however, can change the
section and/or member response, so that other buckling forms may become critical. In particular, a reduction in
thickness of the cross-section components, in order to better distribute the material, often results in plate buckling
governing the design.
Another way to improve the buckling resistance of a member is to provide it with better or additional restraints so that
the buckling mode is modified. The elastic critical load of a pin-ended axially compressed column, for example, is
increased by a factor 4 by providing a simple support at mid-height, so that the column buckles in a two half sine-
wave mode. Similarly a simply supported beam, subject to bending about its major axis, is strengthened against
lateral-torsional buckling by preventing bending and/or torque rotations at the end supports, or, more simply, by
preventing the compression flange from any lateral displacement by means of adequate bracing. The ultimate
resistance of a thin compressed plate can be appreciably improved by fitting longitudinal and possibly transverse
stiffeners; provided these are stiff enough, the plate will buckle between the stiffeners, with a higher elastic critical
stress. Stiffening of shell structures will similarly produce an increase in resistance.
Although the design resistance is related to the ultimate stress rather than to the elastic critical stress, the above
comments can be qualitatively extended when referring to the ultimate carrying resistance.
8. FRAME INSTABILITY
When designing columns as parts of a frame, it would be convenient to isolate the columns from the remainder of the
frame and to treat their design as separate problems. However most columns belonging to building frames experience
bending actions applied at their ends, in addition to axial loads. These bending actions depend on the interaction
between the column and its adjacent members -beams and columns. In some cases, the column will support the beams
at failure; such situations occur when the beams are designed plastically and collapse while the column remains stable
and elastic. There are other situations where the beams will support the column; that is especially the case when the
beams are designed elastically and exhibit an elastic behaviour up to collapse, the latter being initiated by column
instability.
Mostly columns in frames will appear as elastically restrained members subject to combined axial load and end
moments. Therefore, they are termed beam-columns.
In most building frames, sway displacements are prevented by means of appropriate bracing systems, e.g. braces in the
facades, staircases, reinforced concrete central core for utilities. Then the column ends are not likely to experience
horizontal displacements. Stability of non-sway frames reduces itself to stability of the individual columns. Therefore
there is the need for appropriate rules regarding the ultimate resistance of elastically restrained compression members
subject to additional end moments.
Sometimes the horizontal forces, due to wind and possible earthquake, have to be resisted by bending actions in the
whole frame, which exhibits horizontal displacements, usually increasing in magnitude from base to top. Then the
columns deflect according to a S-shape, termed double-curvature bending. Horizontal displacements allow the gravity
loads to develop additional bending moments, which are usually called secondary moments because they result from
gravity loads acting on the deflected frame. The wording secondary is peculiarly not appropriate because the
magnitude of the secondary bending moments can rarely be disregarded. Checking the frame stability by considering
the stability of the individual columns appears thus more like a cooking recipe than a sound design procedure, but it
does attempt to take into account the influence of second-order effects in the framed structure.
A full review of all these complex matters is beyond the scope of this present lecture. They are reviewed in more detail
in Lectures 7 and in some other lectures where systems are especially considered.
The basic features of the buckling phenomena of the members which have been examined are summarised in the
following table.
Buckling
phenomenon
Type of member Loading Stiffness
parameters
Slenderness
ratio
Normalised
slenderness
Flexural Columns Axial compression EI
y
or EI
z
L/i
x
or
L/i
y

Torsional Columns (open sections with
double or point symmetry)
Axial compression
GJ , EIe
-

Flexural
torsional
Columns (open sections
without double or point
symmetry)
Axial compression
GJ , EIe
EI
y
and/or

-

The most effective ways to improve buckling resistance are to increase the dimensions of the cross-section
and/or to use adequate bracing and restraints to modify the buckling mode.
The stability of a no-sway frame is controlled by the stability of its individual columns.
The stability of a sway frame is controlled by the bending stiffness of the columns and beams and the rigidity of
the beam/column connections.
10. REFERENCES
[1] Eurocode 3: "Design of Steel Structures": ENV 1993-1-1: Part 1.1: General rules and rules for buildings, CEN,
1992.
[2] European Convention for Constructional Steelwork, Recommendations of Steel Shells, Publication 56, ECCS,
1988.
1. Ballio, G. and Mazzolani, F, "Theory and Design of Steel Structures", Chapman and Hall, London, 1983.
2. Dowling, P.J ., Knowles, P. and Owens, G.W., "Structural Steel Design", Butterworths, London, 1988.
3. Galambos, T.V. (editor), "Guide to Stability Design Criteria for Metal Structures", J ohn Wiley and Sons, New
York, 1988.
4. McGuire, W, "Steel Structures", Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J ., 1968.
5. Picard, A. and Beaulieu, D., "Calcul des charpentes en d'acier", Institut Canadien de la Construction en Acier,
1991.
EI
z
Lateral
torsional
Beams Major axis bending GJ , EIe ,
EI
z

-

Plate Thin plate or member
component
Compression or shear b/t

Shell Cylindrical shell Axial compression - r/t

Chapter 6 Applied Stability

Transféré par

Informations du document

Titre original

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

Chapter 6 Applied Stability

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

CHAPTER 6 APPLIED STABILITY

The following chapters of these Esdep lecture notes are compulsory:

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi