Dynamic buckling[edit]

If a column is loaded suddenly and then the load released, the column can sustain a much higher
load than its static (slowly applied) buckling load. This can happen in a long, unsupported column
(rod) used as a drop hammer. The duration of compression at the impact end is the time required for
a stress wave to travel up the rod to the other (free) end and back down as a relief wave. Maximum
buckling occurs near the impact end at a wavelength much shorter than the length of the rod, and at
a stress many times the buckling stress of a statically-loaded column. The critical condition for
buckling amplitude to remain less than about 25 times the effective rod straightness imperfection at
the buckle wavelength is

where

is the impact stress,

is the length of the rod,

is the elastic wave speed, and

is

the smaller lateral dimension of a rectangular rod. Because the buckle wavelength depends only
on

and , this same formula holds for thin cylindrical shells of thickness

.[12]