Non-conservative stability of intermediate spring supported columns with an elastically restrained end support

The non-conservative stability of an intermediate spring supported uniform column clastically restrained at one end and subjected to a follower force at the other unsupported end is studied. It is found that when the intermediate spring support is far from the unsupported end, the instability mechanism is flutter. As the intermediate spring support approaches the unsupported end, the instability mechanism is changed from flutter to divergence with the increase of intermediate spring stiffness. For the hinged-intermediate and guided-intermediatc spring supported columns, the critical buckling load of flutter instability will first decrease, then increase as the intermediate spring stiffness is increased. Nevertheless, when the instability mechanism is divergence, the critical buckling load depends on the location of the intermediate spring support only, whereas for the clamped-intermediate spring supported column the critical buckling load of divergence instability decreases monotonically to a fixed value as the intermediate spring stiffness is increased. Finally, the influence of elastic end restraints on the stability of the column is also investigated.     

Postbuckling and imperfection sensitivity of fixed-end and free-end struts on elastic foundation

Summary A study of the postbuckling and imperfection sensitivity of fixed-end and free-end struts on a Winkler elastic foundation is carried out. The configuration and stability of the postbuckling paths bifurcating from the critical points are analysed. For the most part of foundation stiffness, the corresponding postbuckling paths are shown to be falling with respect to load and be unstable. This indicates that, for almost all values of foundation stiffness, the buckling loads of the struts will be sensitive to imperfections. We also obtain imperfection sensitivity of the struts with respect to geometric imperfections having the shape of buckling modes. Received 30 October 1998, accepted for publication 30 March 1999     

Influence of shear deformation on the buckling of elastically supported beams

Summary The influence of shear deformation on the buckling behavior of a beam supported laterally by a Winkler elastic foundation is studied. A full investigation of the bifurcation points at which, under axial load, the beam becomes critical with respect to one or two simultaneous buckling modes is made. The configurations and stabilities of the equilibrium paths that bifurcate from the critical points are derived. From the results of theoretical analysis, it becomes evident that shear deformation has a considerable effect upon the equilibriums and stabilities of the post-buckling of the beam. The results for the Bernoulli-Euler beam can be obtained as a limiting case for those of the present beam by letting the shear stiffness tend to infinity.Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China     

POSTBUCKLING OF CARBON NANOTUBES SUBJECTED TO CYCLIC LOAD

This study focuses on the postbuckling and the nonlinear behavior of single-walled carbon nanotubes subject to a cyclic axial compressive load through the use of molecular dynamic simulation based on the Tersoff-Brenner potential. It reveals the bifurcation behavior in the buckling process simulated with very fine time steps. In the whole cycle of nonlinear deformation, the carbon nanotubes exhibit the profound hysteretic behavior and the energy absorption ability. The molecular dynamics simulation indicates that the carbon nanotube behaves approximately as an ideal plastic spring when the cyclic strain is applied within the same postbuckling mode. In comparison, the theory of continuum mechanics gives a good prediction about the critical buckling strength, but only provides a rough estimation for the post-buckling behaviors.     

Non-linear in-plane buckling of rotationally restrained shallow arches under a central concentrated load

This paper investigates the non-linear in-plane buckling of pin-ended shallow circular arches with elastic end rotational restraints under a central concentrated load. A virtual work method is used to establish both the non-linear equilibrium equations and the buckling equilibrium equations. Analytical solutions for the non-linear in-plane symmetric snap-through and antisymmetric bifurcation buckling loads are obtained. It is found that the effects of the stiffness of the end rotational restraints on the buckling loads, and on the buckling and postbuckling behaviour of arches, are significant. The buckling loads increase with an increase of the stiffness of the rotational restraints. The values of the arch slenderness that delineate its snap-through and bifurcation buckling modes, and that define the conditions of buckling and of no buckling for the arch, increase with an increase of the stiffness of the rotational end restraints.     

Non-linear in-plane postbuckling of arches with rotational end restraints under uniform radial loading

This paper presents a thorough and comprehensive investigation of non-linear buckling and postbuckling analyses of pin-ended shallow circular arches subjected to a uniform radial load and which have equal elastic rotational end-restraints. The differential equations of equilibrium for non-linear buckling and postbuckling are established based on a virtual work approach. Exact solutions for the non-linear bifurcation, limit point and lowest buckling loads are obtained; in particular, exact solutions for the non-linear postbuckling equilibrium paths are derived. The criteria for switching between fundamental buckling and postbuckling modes are developed in terms of critical values of a geometric parameter for an arch, with exact solutions for these critical values of geometric parameter being obtained. Analytical solutions of non-linear buckling and postbuckling problems for arches with rotational end-restraints are of great interest, since they constitute one of the very few closed-form analyses of buckling and postbuckling behaviour of continuous structural systems. These exact solutions are a contribution to the non-linear structural mechanics of arches, as well as providing useful benchmark solutions for verifying non-linear numerical analyses.     

Postbuckling analysis of columns resting on an elastic foundation

The postbuckling response of perfect and geometrically imperfect elastic columns resting on an elastic Winkler type foundation is thoroughly discussed. This is established by employing an approximate analytic technique leading to very reliable results in the vicinity of the critical state. It was found that the critical state of perfect columns is a stable symmetric bifurcation point and consequently there is no sensitivity to initial geometrical imperfections. Moreover, a simple but readily analyzed mechanical model is proposed to simulate the salient features of buckling mechanism of the column on elastic foundation with those of the model. The simplicity, reliability and efficiency of the proposed analysis as well as the successful modeling of the buckling mechanism of the column by that of a single mode mechanical model are illustrated with the aid of numerical examples.     

Buckling and postbuckling of size-dependent cracked microbeams based on a modified couple stress theory

The elastic buckling analysis and the static postbuckling response of the Euler–Bernoulli microbeams containing an open edge crack are studied based on a modified couple stress theory. The cracked section is modeled by a massless elastic rotational spring. This model contains a material length scale parameter and can capture the size effect. The von Kármán nonlinearity is applied to display the postbuckling behavior. Analytical solutions of a critical buckling load and the postbuckling response are presented for simply supported cracked microbeams. This parametric study indicates the effects of the crack location, crack severity, and length scale parameter on the buckling and postbuckling behaviors of cracked microbeams.     

Buckling of a beam subjected to electromagnetic force and its stabilization by controlling the perturbation of the bifurcation

For a beam subjected to electromagnetic force, magnetoelastic buckling due to the increase of such force is theoretically investigated by taking account of the nonlinearity of the electromagnetic force and the elastic force of the beam. Using Liapunov-Schmidt method and center manifold theory, the equilibrium space, the bifurcation set and the bifurcation diagram are theoretically derived. Also, the effect of the higher modes other than the buckling mode on the mode shape of the postbuckling state is discussed. Furthermore, a control method to stabilize the magnetoelastic buckling is proposed, and the unstable equilibrium state of the beam in the postbuckling state, i.e., the straight position of the beam, is stabilized by controlling the perturbation of the bifurcation.     

弹性基础上的杆在轴压下的二次屈曲

本文研究弹性基础上受轴向加载的两端铰支杆当其最低两屈曲荷载很近时的后屈曲行为。首先,使用Liapunov-Schmidt约化并借助稳定性分析,揭示了杆的二次屈曲现象;基于分叉方程给出了原始后屈曲分支及二次分支的渐近展开。其次,我们使用作者建立的二次分叉的计算方法对杆的二次屈曲做了数值计算,数值结果与渐近展开符合得很好     

Buckling load and critical length of nanowires on an elastic substrate

This paper considers the stability of nanowires on an elastic substrate. The problem is converted to a generalized Euler problem containing rotational spring restraint. When distributed loading and tip forces are simultaneously applied, the buckling problem of a heavy nanocolumn with rotational spring junction is reduced to an integral equation. An approximate buckling load equation is derived explicitly. The critical length of nanocantilevers is given in closed form. Results indicate that spring stiffness increases the critical length of nanowires. The effect of self-weight on the critical length is pronounced for small tip forces, and becomes weaker for larger tip forces.     

Effect of Coulomb Damping on Buckling of a Two-Rod System

This paper describes a significant influence of a slight Coulomb damping on buckling, using a simple two rods system. Coulomb damping produces equilibrium regions around the well-known stable and unstable steady states under the pitchfork bifurcation which occurs in the case without Coulomb damping. Also, the stability of the states in the equilibrium regions is examined by using the phase portrait. As a consequence, due to the slight Coulomb damping, it is theoretically clarified that the states in the equilibrium regions are locally stable, even in the neighborhood of the unstable steady states under the pitchfork bifurcation in the case without Coulomb damping, i.e., even in the neighborhood of the unstable trivial steady states in the postbuckling and the unstable nontrivial steady states under the subcritical pitchfork bifurcation. Furthermore, the experimental results are in qualitative agreement with the theoretically predicted phenomena.     

Non-linear buckling and postbuckling behavior of thin-walled beams considering shear deformation

The static stability of thin-walled composite beams, considering shear deformation and geometrical non-linear coupling, subjected to transverse external force has been investigated in this paper. The theory is formulated in the context of large displacements and rotations, through the adoption of a shear deformable displacement field (accounting for bending and warping shear) considering moderate bending rotations and large twist. This non-linear formulation is used for analyzing the prebuckling and postbuckling behavior of simply supported, cantilever and fixed-end beams subjected to different load condition. Ritz's method is applied in order to discretize the non-linear differential system and the resultant algebraic equations are solved by means of an incremental Newton-Rapshon method. The numerical results show that the beam loses its stability through a stable symmetric bifurcation point and the postbuckling strength is in relation with the buckling load value. Classical predictions of lateral buckling are conservative when the prebuckling displacements are not negligible and the non-linear buckling analysis is required for reliable solutions. The analysis is supplemented by investigating the effects of the variation of load height parameter. In addition, the critical load values and postbuckling response obtained with the present beam model are compared with the results obtained with a shell finite element model (Abaqus).     

Long-term non-linear behaviour and buckling of shallow concrete-filled steel tubular arches

This paper presents a theoretical analysis for the long-term non-linear elastic in-plane behaviour and buckling of shallow concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) arches. It is known that an elastic shallow arch does not buckle under a load that is lower than the critical loads for its bifurcation or limit point buckling because its buckling equilibrium configuration cannot be achieved, and the arch is in a stable equilibrium state although its structural response may be quite non-linear under the load. However, for a CFST arch under a sustained load, the visco-elastic effects of creep and shrinkage of the concrete core produce significant long-term increases in the deformations and bending moments and subsequently lead to a time-dependent change of its equilibrium configuration. Accordingly, the bifurcation point and limit point of the time-dependent equilibrium path and the corresponding buckling loads of CFST arches also change with time. When the changing time-dependent bifurcation or limit point buckling load of a CFST arch becomes equal to the sustained load, the arch may buckle in a bifurcation mode or in a limit point mode in the time domain. A virtual work method is used in the paper to investigate bifurcation and limit point buckling of shallow circular CFST arches that are subjected to a sustained uniform radial load. The algebraically tractable age-adjusted effective modulus method is used to model the time-dependent behaviour of the concrete core, based on which solutions for the prebuckling structural life time corresponding to non-linear bifurcation and limit point buckling are derived.     

Experiments on the postbuckling behavior of circular cylindrical shells under compression

Detailed experimental studies are performed on the postbuckling behavior of circular cylindrical shells under compression, by using polyester test cylinders with the geometric parameterZ ranging from 20 to 1000. In each case, variations of the equilibrium load, circumferential wave number and maximum inward and outward deflections, with applied edge shortenings, are clarified. Contour lines for typical postbuckling configurations are also shown. It is found that, as the cylinder is compressed beyond the primary buckling, secondary bucklings take place successively with diminishing wave numbers, and that postbuckling equilibrium loads become significantly lower than those at buckling asZ increases. Further, for short shells withZ≦100, the buckled waveforms are always symmetric with one-tier diamond buckles, while for longer shells, asymmetric postbuckling patterns with two tiers of buckles dominate.     

The Shallow Arch—General Buckling,Postbuckling, and Imperfection Analysis∗

A general discussion of the behavior of the shallow circular arch is presented. It is shown that, irrespective of specific loading or boundary conditions, it is possible to arrive at general conclusions regarding buckling, postbuckling, and imperfection sensitivity. General methods of analysis are established which lead to the determination of points of bifurcation and of postbuckling paths under symmetric loads. Modifications accounting for antisymmetric load components are introduced, with special emphasis on their asymptotic and limit load effect.

A typical numerical example is carried through in detail. The solution is “exact” in the sense of shallow arch theory. Its asymptotic behavior conforms to the asymptotic theory of Koiter.     

安全壳中钢衬壳热屈曲问题理论与实验研究(Ⅱ)──实验部分

钢衬壳热屈曲问题是核工程安全壳设计中的主要问题,但实验研究方面的文章发表得不多文中以200兆瓦核电站安全壳中钢衬壳为研究对象,采用局部1：1模型,测得了钢衬壳热屈曲温度和应变载荷,给出了钢衬壳屈曲和初始后屈曲过程中挠度和温度关系、以及膜应变和温度关系,实验测得钢衬壳具有局域屈曲的现象,实验屈曲载荷与理论结果符合较好     

Non-linear in-plane analysis and buckling of pinned–fixed shallow arches subjected to a central concentrated load

This paper is concerned with an analytical study of the non-linear elastic in-plane behaviour and buckling of pinned–fixed shallow circular arches that are subjected to a central concentrated radial load. Because the boundary conditions provided by the pinned support and fixed support of a pinned–fixed arch are quite different from those of a pinned–pinned or a fixed–fixed arch, the non-linear behaviour of a pinned–fixed arch is more complicated than that of its pinned–pinned or fixed–fixed counterpart. Analytical solutions for the non-linear equilibrium path for shallow pinned–fixed circular arches are derived. The non-linear equilibrium path for a pinned–fixed arch may have one or three unstable equilibrium paths and may include two or four limit points. This is different from pinned–pinned and fixed–fixed arches that have only two limit points. The number of limit points in the non-linear equilibrium path of a pinned–fixed arch depends on the slenderness and the included angle of the arch. The switches in terms of an arch geometry parameter, which is introduced in the paper, are derived for distinguishing between arches with two limit points and those with four limit points and for distinguishing between a pinned–fixed arch and a beam curved in-elevation. It is also shown that a pinned–fixed arch under a central concentrated load can buckle in a limit point mode, but cannot buckle in a bifurcation mode. This contrasts with the buckling behaviour of pinned–pinned or fixed–fixed arches under a central concentrated load, which may buckle both in a bifurcation mode and in a limit point mode. An analytical solution for the limit point buckling load of shallow pinned–fixed circular arches is also derived. Comparisons with finite element results show that the analytical solutions can accurately predict the non-linear buckling and postbuckling behaviour of shallow pinned–fixed arches. Although the solutions are derived for shallow pinned–fixed arches, comparisons with the finite element results demonstrate that they can also provide reasonable predictions for the buckling load of deep pinned–fixed arches under a central concentrated load.     

Finite element analysis of post-buckling dynamics in plates. Part II: A non-stationary analysis

With the secondary bifurcation and the local post-secondary buckling behavior being analyzed in Part I, Part II of this study consists of developing an adaptive non-stationary load sweeping algorithm to investigate post-buckling dynamics and mode jumping phenomena of generally (mechanically and thermally) loaded thin plates in a global context. The non-stationary sweeping procedure has the merits of adapting large load steps to capture static characteristics of stable equilibrium paths both before and after mode jumping and reduce automatically the step size to ensure a dynamic transition between the two stable branches. Thus, it is computationally effective. Furthermore, by adopting the non-stationary sweeping scheme, this procedure can avoid spurious convergence of the transient response to an unstable equilibrium.Corresponding to different post-secondary bifurcation forms, which are determined using asymptotical finite element analysis developed in Part I, subsequent buckling patterns of various complexity occurring after mode jumping are obtained using the method developed in this article. Qualitative changes in post-buckled patterns are observed after the occurrence of the secondary bifurcation or the mode jumping. Free vibration analysis using the tangent stiffness matrix obtained from the converged static or dynamic solutions shows a vibration modal shifting phenomena occurs during the process of the load sweep. The spurious convergence phenomenon caused by the application of the traditional hybrid static–dynamic method is found and explained.     

Nonlinear stability of timber column strengthened with fiber reinforced polymer

By taking into account the effect of the bi-modulus for tension and compression of the fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) sheet in the reinforcement layer, a general mathematical model for the nonlinear bending of a slender timber beam strengthened with the FRP sheet is established under the hypothesis of the large deflection deformation of the beam. Nonlinear governing equations of the second order effect of the beam bending are derived. The nonlinear stability of a simply-supported slender timber column strengthened with the FRP sheet is then investigated. An expression of the critical load of the simply-supported FRP-strengthened timber beam is obtained. The existence of postbuckling solution of the timber column is proved theoretically, and an asymptotic analytical solution of the postbuckling state in the vicinity of the critical load is obtained using the perturbation method. Parameters are studied showing that the FRP reinforcement layer has great influence on the critical load of the timber column, and has little influence on the dimensionless postbuckling state.