Buckling Direction

Cross-section
y

P
y

A
h

x
b
Iy>Iz

Fig. 9.6 Column cross section showing the direction of buckling (here: I z

bh 3
12

Iy

hb 3
)
12

9.4 CRITICAL COLUMN STRESS

A column can either fail due to the material yielding, or because the column buckles, it is of
interest to the engineer to determine when this point of transition occurs.
Consider the Euler buckling equation 9.10
2
EI
PE
L2
Because of the large deflection caused by buckling, the least second moment of area term I
can be expressed as follows:
I Ar 2
(9.13)
where: A is the cross sectional area and r is called radius of gyration of the cross sectional
area, i.e. r
I / A . Note that the smallest radius of gyration of the column, i.e. the least
second moment of area I should be taken in order to find the critical stress.
Dividing the buckling equation by A, gives:
2
PE
E
(9.14)
E
A
L/r 2
where: E is the compressive stress in the column and must not exceed the yield stress Y of the
material, i.e. E< Y, L / r is called the slenderness ratio, it is a measure of the column's flexibility.
If this equation is plotted for steel it gives:
x
Y

240MPa
2
Crit

89

L/r

L/r

Fig. 9.7 Critical stress vs slenderness ratio for steel

For a column not to fail by either yielding or buckling, its stress must remain underneath this
diagram in Fig. 9.7.
Example 9.1 A 2m long pin ended column of square cross section. Assuming E=12.5GPa,
allow=12MPa for compression parallel to the grain, and using a factor of safety of 2.5 in
computing Eulers critical load for buckling, determining the size of the cross section if the
column is to safely support (a) a P = 100kN load and (b) a P = 200kN load.
Lecture Notes of Mechanics of Solids, Chapter 9

Section a-a
y
I

a
s

Part (a)
Second moment of area

Iz

Iy

Buckling criterion

1 3
ss
12

Using given Factor of Safety FS=2.5 FS

s4
12

F fail
Fallow

, we make the required critical load as

PCrit FS P 2.5 100kN 250 10 3 N

Based on Eulers formula, Eq. (9.10), we have
2
EI
PCrit
250 10 3 N
L2
250 10 3 L2
12
2
E
P
Stress criterion
A
or:

s B1

250 10 3 2 2
12
2
12.5 10 9

allow

250 10 3 L2
2
E

0.0993m

99.3mm

s2

allow

100 10 3
0.0913m 91.3mm
1
12 10 6
allow
Comparing the results from these two criteria, we have s max s B 2 , s 2 99.3mm . In this
case, the design is taken against the buckling criterion. Finally, one may select a round-up
amount, e.g. s = 100mm, as the design of the size of cross section.
P

i.e. s

Part (b)
Buckling criterion
PCrit

FS P
2

EI
L2

Step 2: Eulers formula PCrit

500 10 3 L2
or:
sB2
12
2
E
P
Stress criterion
A
4

500 10 3 N

500 10 3 N

500 10 3 2 2
12
2
12.5 10 9

allow

s2

500 10 3 L2
2
E

0.1181m 118.1mm
P
allow

200 10
0.1291m 129.1mm
12 10 6
allow
Comparing the results from these two criteria, we have s max s B 2 , s 2 129.1mm . In this
case, the design is taken against the stress criterion. One may select s = 130mm as the design
of the size of cross section.
i.e. s

2.5 200kN

Lecture Notes of Mechanics of Solids, Chapter 9