On the integral equation method for buckling loads

An initial value method for the integral equation of the column is presented for determining the buckling load of columns. The differential equation of the column is reduced to a Fredholm integral equation. An initial value problem is derived for this integral equation, which is reduced to a set of ordinary differential equations with prescribed initial conditions in order to find the Fredholm resolvent. The singularities of the resolvent occur at the eigenvalues. Integration of the equations proceeds until the integrals become excessively large, indicating that a critical load has been reached. To check this method, numerical results are given for two examples, for which the critical load is well known. One is the Euler load of a simply supported beam, and the other case is the buckling load of a cantilever beam under its own weight. The advantage of this initial value method is that it can be applied easily to solve other nonlinear problems for which the critical loads are unknown. This approach will be illustrated in future papers.