Torsional buckling and post-buckling of columns made of aluminium alloy

The paper concerns torsional buckling and the initial post-buckling of axially compressed thin-walled aluminium alloy columns with bisymmetrical cross-section. It is assumed that the column material behaviour is described by the Ramberg–Osgood constitutive equation in non-linear elastic range. The stationary total energy principle is used to derive the governing non-linear differential equation. An approximate solution of the equation determined by means of the perturbation approach allows to determine the buckling loads and the initial post-buckling behaviour. Numerical examples dealing with simply supported I-column are presented and the effect of material elastic non-linearity on the critical loads and initial post-buckling behaviour are compared to the linear solution.