Euler's critical load

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The critical load is the maximum load which a column can bear while staying straight. It is given by the
formula:[1]

where

= Euler's critical load (longitudinal

compression load on column),
= modulus of elasticity of column material,
= minimum area moment of inertia of the
cross section of the column,
= unsupported length of column,
= column effective length factor

This formula was derived in 1757, by the Swiss

mathematician Leonhard Euler. The column will
remain straight for loads less than the critical load.
The "critical load" is the greatest load that will not
cause lateral deflection (buckling). For loads greater Fig. 1: Column effective length factors for Euler's critical load.
than the critical load, the column will deflect In practical design, it is recommended to increase the factors as
laterally. The critical load puts the column in a state shown above.
of unstable equilibrium. A load beyond the critical
which causes the column to fail by buckling. As the
load is increased beyond the critical load the lateral deflections increase, until it may fail in other modes such as
yielding of the material. Loading of columns beyond the critical load are not addressed in this article.

Around 1900, J. B. Johnson showed that at high slenderness ratios an alternative formula should be used.

Contents
1 Assumptions of the model
2 Mathematical Derivation - Pin Ended Column
3 Mathematical Derivation - General Approach
4 See also
5 References

Assumptions of the model

The following assumptions are made while deriving Eulers formula:[2]

1. The material of the column is homogeneous and isotropic.

2. The compressive load on the column is axial only.
3. The column is free from initial stress.
4. The weight of the column is neglected.
5. The column is initially straight (no eccentricity of the axial load).
 6. Pin joints are friction-less (no moment constraint) and fixed ends are rigid (no rotation deflection).
7. The cross-section of the column is uniform throughout its length.
8. The direct stress is very small as compared to the bending stress (the material is compresses only within
the elastic range of strains).
9. The length of the column is very large as compared to the cross-sectional dimensions of the column.
10. The column fails only by buckling. This is true if the compressive stress in the column does not exceed
the yield strength (see figure 2):

For slender columns, critical stress is usually lower than

yield stress, and in the elastic range. A stocky column
would, on the contrast, have a critical buckling stress higher
than the yield, i.e. it yields in shortening prior the virtual
elastic buckling onset.

Where:

- Slenderness ratio, Fig. 2: Critical stress vs slenderness ratio for steel, for
E=200GPa, Yield strength=240MPa
- The effective length, ,

- Radius of gyration, ,

- Moment of inertia,

- Area cross section.

Mathematical Derivation - Pin Ended Column

The following model applies to columns simply supported at each end ( ).

Firstly, we will put attention to the fact there are no reactions in the hinged ends, so we also have no shear force
in any cross-section of the column. The reason for no reactions can be obtained from symmetry (so the
reactions should be in the same direction) and from moment equilibrium (so the reactions should be in opposite
directions).

Using the free body diagram in the right side of figure 3, and making a summation of moments about point A:

where w is the lateral deflection.

According to EulerBernoulli beam theory, the deflection of a beam is related with its bending moment by:

so:
Let , so:

We get a classical homogeneous Fig. 3: Pin ended column under the effect of Buckling load
second-order ordinary
differential equation.

The general solutions of this equation is: , where and are constants to be
determined by boundary conditions, which are:

Left end pinned

Right end pinned

If , no bending moment exists and we get

the trivial solution of .

However, from the other solution we

get , for

Together with as defined before, the

various critical loads are:

, for
Fig. 4: First three modes of buckling loads
and depending upon the value of , different
buckling modes are produced[3] as shown in figure
4. The load and mode for n=0 is the nonbuckled mode.

Theoretically, any buckling mode is possible, but in the case of a slowly applied load only the first modal shape
is likely to be produced.

The critical load of Euler for a pin ended column is therefore:

and the obtained shape of the buckled column in the first mode is: .

Mathematical Derivation - General Approach

The differential equation of the axis of a beam[4] is:

For a column with axial load only, the lateral load vanishes and substituting , we get:
This is a homogeneous fourth-order
differential equation and its general
solution is

Fig. 5: forces and moments acting on a column

The four constants are determined by the boundary conditions (end constraints) on , at each
end. There are three cases:

1. Pinned end: and

2. Fixed end: and

3. Free end: and

Using each time a different combination of these BCs, eigenvalue problems are obtained. Solving those, we get
the values of Euler's critical load for each one of the cases presented in Figure 1.

See also
Buckling
Bending moment
Bending
EulerBernoulli beam theory

References
1. "Column Buckling" (https://mechanicalc.com/reference/column-buckling).
2. "Questions on Columns and Struts" (http://engineering.myindialist.com/2015/twelve-viva-questions-on-c
olumns-and-struts/#.VzmNfvl97cs).
3. "Buckling of Columns" (http://web.aeromech.usyd.edu.au/AMME2301/Documents/Chapter09.pdf)
(PDF).
4. Timoshenko, S. P. & Gere, J. M. (1961). Theory of Elastic Stability, 2 ed., McGraw-Hill.

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This page was last edited on 13 August 2017, at 19:24.

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