12 BucklingAnalysis

12.1 Introduction
Therearetwomajorcategoriesleadingtothesuddenfailureofamechanicalcomponent:materialfailureand structuralinstability,whichisoftencalledbuckling.Formaterialfailuresyouneedtoconsidertheyieldstress forductilematerialsandtheultimatestressforbrittlematerials. Thosematerialpropertiesaredeterminedbyaxialtensiontestsandaxialcompressiontestsofshortcolumns ofthematerial(seeFigure121).Thegeometryofsuchtestspecimenshasbeenstandardized.Thus, geometryisnotspecificallyaddressedindefiningmaterialproperties,suchasyieldstress.Geometryenters theproblemofdeterminingmaterialfailureonlyindirectlyasthestressesarecalculatedbyanalyticor numericalmethods.

Figure121Shortcolumnsfailduetomaterialfailure

Predictingmaterialfailuremaybeaccomplishedusinglinearfiniteelementanalysis.Thatis,bysolvingalinear algebraicsystemfortheunknowndisplacements,K=F.Thestrainsandcorrespondingstressesobtained fromthisanalysisarecomparedtodesignstress(orstrain)allowableseverywherewithinthecomponent.If thefiniteelementsolutionindicatesregionswheretheseallowablesareexceeded,itisassumedthatmaterial failurehasoccurred. Theloadatwhichbucklingoccursdependsonthestiffnessofacomponent,notuponthestrengthofits materials.Bucklingreferstothelossofstabilityofacomponentandisusuallyindependentofmaterial strength.Thislossofstabilityusuallyoccurswithintheelasticrangeofthematerial.Thetwophenomenonare governedbydifferentdifferentialequations[18].Bucklingfailureisprimarilycharacterizedbyalossof structuralstiffnessandisnotmodeledbytheusuallinearfiniteelementanalysis,butbyafiniteelement eigenvalueeigenvectorsolution,|K+mKF|m=0,wheremisthebucklingloadfactor(BLF)forthemth mode,KFistheadditionalgeometricstiffnessduetothestressescausedbytheloading,F,andmisthe associatedbucklingdisplacementshapeforthemthmode.Thespatialdistributionoftheloadisimportant, butitsrelativemagnitudeisnot.Thebucklingcalculationgivesamultiplierthatscalesthemagnitudeofthe load(upordown)tothatrequiredtocausebuckling. Slenderorthinwalledcomponentsundercompressivestressaresusceptibletobuckling.Mostpeoplehave observedwhatiscalledEulerbucklingwherealongslendermembersubjecttoacompressiveforcemoves lateraltothedirectionofthatforce,asillustratedinFigure122.Theforce,F,necessarytocausesucha bucklingmotionwillvarybyafactoroffourdependingonlyonhowthetwoendsarerestrained.Therefore, bucklingstudiesaremuchmoresensitivetothecomponentrestraintsthatinanormalstressanalysis.The

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theoreticalEulersolutionwillleadtoinfiniteforcesinveryshortcolumns,andthatclearlyexceedstheallowed materialstress.Thusinpractice,Eulercolumnbucklingcanonlybeappliedincertainregionsandempirical transitionequationsarerequiredforintermediatelengthcolumns.Forverylongcolumnsthelossofstiffness occursatstressesfarbelowthematerialfailure.

Figure122Longcolumnsfailduetoinstability

Therearemanyanalyticsolutionsforidealizedcomponentshavingelasticinstability.About75ofthemost commoncasesaretabulatedintheclassicreferenceRoarksFormulasforStressandStrain[1517],andin thehandbookbyPilkey[11].

12.2 Bucklingterminology
Thetopicofbucklingisstillunclearbecausethekeywordsofstiffness,longandslenderhavenotbeen quantified.Mostofthoseconceptsweredevelopedhistoricallyfrom1Dstudies.Youneedtounderstand thosetermseventhoughfiniteelementanalysisletsyouconductbucklingstudiesin1D,2D,and3D.Fora material,stiffnessreferstoeitheritselasticmodulus,E,ortoitsshearmodulus,G=E/(2+2v)wherevis Poissonsratio. Slenderisageometricconceptofatwodimensionalareathatisquantifiedbytheradiusofgyration.The radiusofgyration,r,hastheunitsoflengthanddescribesthewayinwhichtheareaofacrosssectionis distributedarounditscentroidalaxis.Iftheareaisconcentratedfarfromthecentroidalaxisitwillhavea greatervalueofrandagreaterresistancetobuckling.Anoncircularcrosssectionwillhavetwovaluesforits radiusofgyration.Thesectiontendstobucklearoundtheaxiswiththesmallestvalue.Theradiusofgyration, r,isdefinedas: r=(I/A)1/2, whereIandAaretheareamomentofinertia,andareaofthecrosssection.ForacircleofradiusR,youobtain r=R/2.ForarectangleoflargelengthRandsmalllengthbyouobtainrmax=R/23=0.29Randrmin=0.29 b.Solidscanhaveregionsthatareslender,andiftheycarrycompressivestressesabucklingstudyisjustified. LongisalsoageometricconceptthatisquantifiedbythenondimensionalslendernessratioL/r,whereL denotesthelengthofthecomponent.Theslendernessratioisdefinedtobelongwhenitobeystheinequality L/r>(/k)(2E/y)1/2 wherekisaconstantthatdependsontherestraintsofthetwoendsofthecolumn.Alongslendernessratiois typicallyintherangeof>120.Theaboveequationisthedividingpointbetweenlong(Euler)columnsand

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intermediate(empirical)columns.Thecriticalcompressivestressthatwillcausebucklingalwaysdecreasesas theslendernessratioincreases. Eulerlongcolumnbucklingisquitesensitivetotheendrestraints.Figure123showsfiveofseveralcasesof endrestraintsandtheassociatedkvalueusedinboththelimitingslendernessratioandthebucklingloador stress.Thecriticalbucklingforceis FEuler=k2EI/L2=k2EA/(L/r)2 SothecriticalEulerbucklingstressis Euler=FEuler/A=k2E/(L/r)2.

Figure123Restraintshavealargeinfluenceonthecriticalbucklingload

12.3 BucklingLoadFactor
Thebucklingloadfactor(BLF)isanindicatorofthefactorofsafetyagainstbucklingortheratioofthebuckling loadstothecurrentlyappliedloads.Table121InterpretationoftheBucklingLoadFactor(BLF)illustratesthe interpretationofpossibleBLFvaluesreturnedbySWSimulation.Sincebucklingoftenleadstobadoreven catastrophicresults,youshouldutilizeahighfactorofsafety(FOS)forbucklingloads.Thatis,thevalueof unityinTable121InterpretationoftheBucklingLoadFactor(BLF)shouldbereplacedwiththeFOSvalue.
Table121InterpretationoftheBucklingLoadFactor(BLF)

BLFValue >1 =1

BucklingStatus Remarks Bucklingnotpredicted Theappliedloadsarelessthantheestimatedcriticalloads. Bucklingpredicted Theappliedloadsareexactlyequaltothecriticalloads. Bucklingisexpected. <1 Bucklingpredicted Theappliedloadsexceedtheestimatedcriticalloads. Bucklingwilloccur. 1<BLF<0 Bucklinpossible Bucklingispredictedifyoureversetheloaddirections. 1 Bucklingpossible Bucklingisexpectedifyoureversetheloaddirections. <1 Bucklingnotpredicted Theappliedloadsarelessthantheestimatedcriticalloads, evenifyoureversetheirdirections.

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12.4 Generalbucklingconcepts
Other1Dconceptsthatrelatetostiffnessare:axialstiffness,EA/L,flexural(bending)stiffness,EI/L,and torsionalstiffness,GJ/L,whereJisthepolarmomentofinertiaofthecrosssectionalarea(J=Iz=Ix+Iy). Today,stiffnessusuallyreferstothefiniteelementstiffnessmatrix,whichcanincludealloftheabovestiffness termsplusgeneralsolidorshellstiffnesscontributions.Analyticbucklingstudiesidentifyadditionalclassesof instabilitybesidesEulerbuckling(seeFigure124).Theyincludelateralbuckling,torsionalbuckling,andother bucklingmodes.Afiniteelementbucklingstudydeterminesthelowestbucklingfactorsandtheir correspondingdisplacementmodes.Theamplitudeofabucklingdisplacementmode,|m|,isarbitraryand notuseful,buttheshapeofthemodecansuggestwhetherlateral,torsional,orotherbehaviorisgoverning thebucklingresponseofadesign

Figure124Somesamplebucklingshapes

12.5 LocalBucklingofaCantilever
12.5.1 Background
Youpreviouslywentthroughtheanalysisofahorizontaltaperedcantileversubjecttoatransverseload distributedoveritsfreeendface.Thefixedsupportatthewallincludedasemicircularsectionofthe supportingverticalsection.ThememberwasL=50inchlong,t=2inchthick,andthedepth,d,taperedfrom 3inchattheload,to9inchatthesupport.Acompleteplanestressanalysiswasconducted.Thecomputed stresseswererelativelylow.Itwasdecidedtosavematerialcostsbyreducingthethicknessofthebeam.

12.5.2 FactorofSafety
Fortheductilematerialusedherethematerialfactorofsafety(FOS)isdefinedasthematerialyieldstress dividedbythevonMiseseffectivestress.Toviewitsdistributionthedefaultresultsplotisopenedwith Results DefineFactorofSafetyPlot MaxvonMisesstress,whichisshowninFigure125.

Figure125Originalmaterialfactorofsafetyinbending

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ThematerialFOSisalsoquitehigh,rangingfromalowvalueofabout10toahighvalueofabout100.This probablysuggests(incorrectly)thatasimpleredesignwillsavematerial,andthusmoney.Theloadcarrying capacityofabeamisdirectlyproportionaltoitsgeometricmomentofinertia,Iz=td3/12.Thus,italsois proportionaltoitsthickness,t.Therefore,itappearsthatyoucouldsimplyreducethethicknessfromt=2to 0.2inchesandyourmaterialFOSwouldstillbeaboveunity.Ifyoudidthatthenthethicknesstodepthratio wouldvaryfrom0.2/3=0.067attheloadto0.2/9=0.022atthewall,arangeofabout1/15to1/45.

12.5.3 Localbuckling
Ifcomponenthasaregionwheretherelativethicknesstodepthratiooflessthan1/10youshouldconsiderthe possibilityoflocalbuckling.Itusuallyisarareoccurrence,butwhenitdoesoccurtheresultscanbesudden andcatastrophic.Todoublecheckthesafetyofreducingthethicknessyoushouldaddasecondstudythat utilizestheSWSimulationbucklingfeaturetodeterminethelowestbucklingload.Todothat: 1. RightclickonthePartname StudytoopentheStudypanel. 2. AssignanewStudyname,selectBucklingastheTypeofanalysis,andusethethinshellastheModel type,clickOK. 3. TousethesameloadsandrestraintsdragtheExternalLoadsfromthefirststudyanddroptheminto thesecondone. 4. Likewise,draganddropthefirstshellMaterialsintothesecondstudy. 5. Createanewfinermesh,ordraganddropthefirstmesh. 6. RightclickonthePartname Run.

12.5.4 Bucklingmode
Abuckling,orstability,analysisisaneigenproblem.Themagnitudeofthescalareigenvalueiscalledthe bucklingloadfactor,BLF.Thecomputeddisplacementeigenvectorisreferredtoasthebucklingmodeor modeshape.Theyareonlyrelativedisplacements.Usuallytheyarepresentedinanondimensionalfashion wherethedisplacementsrangefromzeroto1.Inotherwords,theactualvalueorunitsofabucklingmode shapearenotimportant.Still,itiswisetocarryoutavisualcheckofthefirstbucklingmode: 1. Whenthesolutioncompletes,pickDisplacements Plot1andexaminetheresultantdisplacement URES.NotethatthedisplacementcontourcurvesinFigure126areinclinedtothelongaxisofthe beaminsteadofbeingverticalasbefore. 2. UseEditDefinition Vector Linetogetaplotofthedisplacementvectors,androtatetoanoutof planeview,asshowninFigure127. FromFigure127youseethatundertheverticalloadthe(verythin)beamdeflectedmainlysideways (perpendiculartotheload)ratherthandownward.Thisisanexampleoflateralbuckling.Thatistypicalof whatcanhappentoverythinregions.Next,thequestionis:howlargemusttheendloadbetocausesuch motion,andfailure?

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Figure126Relativebucklingmodedisplacementvalues(normaltosurface)

Figure127Relativelateralbucklingmodedisplacementvectors

12.5.5 BucklingLoadFactor
ToseethemagnitudeoftheBLF(eigenvalue): 1. RightclickonDeformation ListModeShape. 2. IntheModeShapepanel,Figure128,readtheBLFvalueofabout0.03.

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Figure128Firstbucklingmodeloadfactor

YouwanttheBLFtobequiteabithigherthanunity.Instead,thestudyshowsthatonlyabout3%ofthe plannedloadwillcausethismembertofailbylateralbucklingduetolossofstiffnessintheoutofplane direction.Thus,youmustreconsiderthethicknessreduction.Rememberthatthegeometricmomentof inertiaaboutthevertical(y)axisisIy=dt3/12.Itisameasureofthelateralbendingresistance.Byreducing thethickness,t,byafactorof10theoriginalIz(andtheinplanebendingresistance)wentdownbythesame factorof10,butIy(andtheoutofplanebendingresistance)wentdownbyafactorof1,000. Thebucklingloadfactorisanindicatorofthefactorofsafetyagainstbucklingortheratioofthebucklingloads tothecurrentlyappliedloads.Sincebucklingoftenleadstobadorevencatastrophicresults,youshouldutilize ahighfactorofsafety(atleast>3)forbucklingloads.

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