Buckling in Space and Time

A personal overview of the buckling process is given, based on more than 30 years research experience. A fundamental distinction is drawn between structures that tend to distribute their pattern of buckling over the entire available length, and those that favour limiting it to a localized portion. Difficulties are compounded by the fact that localized solutions typically are shadowed by distributed counterparts. The difference is found to depend primarily on the stability of the system at the point of buckling. When an unstable localized form shows a tendency to restabilize, a pattern known as cellular buckling can develop, taking place sequentially in both space and time. The paper focuses particularly on the buckling of the axially-compressed cylindrical shell, and shows how the circumferential periodicity coupled with axial localization has special but hidden characteristics. In particular, the circumferential wavenumber is picked at an early stage of buckling and remains locked, while localization in the axial sense permits extensive change to the post-buckling shape.