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Notched beam

Buckling
Linear finite-element
analysis does not Authored by:
provide enough Paul M. Kurowski

analysis
President
information about Tom P. Kurowski
Project Engineer
buckling to make A notched beam is loaded with a 1N compressive load uniformly distributed over the
end face. The beam is analyzed with a free end (top) and a sliding end (bottom). The Design Generator Inc.
correct design illustration is not to scale. London, Ontario, Canada

FEA
with decisions, especially
when designing
Edited by Leslie Gordon
leslie.gordon@penton.com
Resources:
Linear buckling, free end
Design Generator Inc., www.
lightweight designgenerator .com
Note: All examples were
components. solved with SolidWorks
Simulation 2010. You can
download the models at http://
www.designgenerator.com/
downloads.htm.
In many design projects, engineers must calculate the lems are best presented in the context of two other failure Results of the linear-buckling analysis of the notched beam
factor of safety (FOS) to ensure the design will withstand modes: excessive displacements and yielding, as summa- with the free end show the BLF to be 567. So the analysis
the expected loadings. Calculations require correctly rized in the Failure modes table. predicts buckling at the load of 567 N. Displacement values
recognizing the mechanisms of failure, and this is a dif- are only relative and, therefore, meaningless.
ficult task. All too often we associate structural failure Linear-buckling analysis
only with yielding and are satisfied when design analysis First, consider a linear-buckling analysis (also called
shows a sufficient FOS related to yield. eigenvalue-based buckling analysis), which is in many
However, yielding is not the only mode of failure. For ways similar to modal analysis. Linear buckling is the most — depending on the particular FEA package) to obtain the nonconservative results. However, BLFs are also overesti-
example, it is necessary to consider displacements to en- common type of analysis and is easy to execute, but it is buckling-load magnitude. mated because of modeling errors. FE models most often
sure the part or assembly does not deform too much. Also limited in the results it can provide. The buckling mode presents the shape the structure represent geometry with no imperfections and loads and
important is buckling, which is all-too-often forgotten and Linear-buckling analysis calculates buckling load assumes when it buckles in a particular mode, but says supports are applied with perfect accuracy with no offsets.
yet poses a dangerous mode of design failure. Buckling magnitudes that cause buckling and associated buckling nothing about the numerical values of the displacements In reality though, loads are always applied with offsets,
happens suddenly, without little if any prior warning, so modes. FEA programs provide calculations of a large or stresses. The numerical values can be displayed, but faces are never perfectly flat, and supports are never per-
there is almost no chance for corrective action. number of buckling modes and the associated buckling- are merely relative. This is in close analogy to modal fectly rigid. Even if supports are modeled as flexible, their
Certain problems tend to arise in buckling analysis per- load factors (BLF). The BLF is expressed by a number analysis, which calculates the natural frequency and stiffness is never evenly distributed. Imperfections are al-
formed with finite-element analysis (FEA). These prob- which the applied load must be multiplied by (or divided provides qualitative information on the modes of vibra- ways present in the real world. Considering the combined
tion (modal shapes), but not on the actual magnitude of effect of discretization error (a minor effect) and modeling
displacements. error (a major effect), designers should interpret the re-
Failure modes Theoretically, it is possible to calculate as many buck- sults of linear buckling analysis with caution.
MODE OF LEVEL OF ling modes as the number of degrees of freedom in the For an example of a linear buckling analysis, consider
FAILURE RECOGNITION ATTRIBUTES FEA model. Most often, though, only the first positive a model of a beam in compression (beam material is 1060
buckling mode and its associated BLF need be found. This aluminum). The model is studied in two configurations:
Excessive At times we forget to This is a global failure mode. Excessive displacements, by themselves, may render a is because higher buckling modes have no chance of tak- with a free loaded end, and with a sliding loaded end.
displacement check for displacements design unusable but do not have to lead to structural collapse. Displacements are ing place — buckling most often causes catastrophic fail- In the Notched beam figure, note the small notch — its
easy to model using FEA.
ure or renders the structure unusable. importance will soon become clear. Also, try predicting
Yielding A well-recognized mode Typically a local failure mode; small yield zones can often be tolerated. Does not The nomenclature is “the first positive buckling mode” which way the beam should buckle in each configuration.
of failure necessarily lead to structural collapse. Yield is relatively easy to model using FEA. because buckling modes are reported in the ascending or- In the Linear buckling, free end figure, why has the
Buckling The most-often forgotten This is a global failure mode. Happens without any prior warning. Almost always der according to their numerical values. A buckling mode beam buckled in the wrong direction, and not toward
mode of structural failure leads to structural collapse. Buckling is difficult to model with FEA. with a negative BLF means the load direction must be re- the side where the notch is? Because the linear-buckling
versed (in addition to multiplying by the BLF magnitude) analysis only predicts the buckled shape and not the direc-
The modes of structural failure include displacement, yielding, and buckling. Of course, this is not a complete list of failure
for buckling to happen. tion of buckling.
modes .
As a consequence of discretization error, linear buck- The Linear buckling, sliding end figure shows the beam
ling analysis overestimates the buckling load and provides buckling in the correct direction, but this is purely co-

36 MACHINE Design.com FEBRUARY 17, 2011 FEBRUARY 17, 2011 MACHINE Design.com 37
▲ CAD/CAM/CAE
Linear buckling, sliding end
incidental. The color legends with
displacement magnitudes in both
figures point out their meaningless-
ness. They show that linear buckling
analysis cannot provide quantitative
results for displacements or stresses.
In addition, linear-buckling anal-
ysis does not show what happens to
a structure after buckling. Does the
structure collapse, or will it retain
the load-bearing ability in the buck-
led shape? How much will it deform
when it buckles? To obtain more
information than the BLF and the
qualitative buckled shape, it is neces-
sary to enter the domain of nonlinear
buckling analysis.
Nonlinear-buckling
analysis
As with any other nonlinear anal-
ysis, nonlinear-buckling analysis re-
quires that a load be applied gradu-
ally in multiple steps rather than in
one step as in a linear analysis. Each
load increment changes the struc-
ture’s shape, and this, in turn, changes
the structure’s stiffness. Therefore,
the structure stiffness must be up-
dated at each increment. In this ap-
proach, which is called the load con-
trol method, load steps are defined
either by the user or automatically
so the difference in displacement be-
tween the two consecutive steps is
not too large.
A lt h ou g h t h e l o a d - c ont rol
method is used in most types of non-
linear analyses, it would be difficult
38 MACHINE Design.com FEBRUARY 17, 2011
Results of the
analysis of the
notched beam
with the sliding
end show the BLF
to be 9623. So the
analysis predicts
buckling at the
load of 9,623 N.
Displacement
values are
meaningless.
Nonlinear buckling, free end
The red line shows the
relation between the
load factor (X axis) and
the vertical displacement
of the loaded end (Y axis) of a
beam made with a linear elastic
material. The blue line shows the
load-displacement curve for an
elastic-perfectly plastic material.
A 1 N force was applied, so the
load factor on X is numerically the
same as the actual load.
Nonlinear buckling, sliding end
The graph shows displacement
results of a nonlinear buckling
analysis of the notched beam with
sliding end using elastic material
(red) and elastic-perfectly plastic
material (blue).
Sheet metal under load
Buckling does not necessarily lead to
structural collapse as seen in this example of a
thin curved steel plate.
to implement in a buckling analysis. When buckling hap-
pens, the structure undergoes a momentary loss of stiff-
ness and the load control method would result in nu-
merical instabilities. Nonlinear buckling analysis requires
another way of controlling load application — the arc
length control method. Here, points corresponding to
consecutive load increments are evenly spaced along the
load-displacement curve, which itself is constructed dur-
ing load application.
In contrast to linear-buckling analysis, which only cal-
culates the potential buckling shape with no quantitative
values of importance, nonlinear analysis calculates actual
displacements and stresses. To better understand the in-
ner workings of nonlinear-buckling analysis, first consider
what happens in running a nonlinear-buckling analysis on
an idealized structure. Imagine a perfectly round and per-
fectly straight column under a perfectly aligned compres-
sive load. Theoretically, buckling will never happen, but in
actuality, buckling will take place because of imperfections
in the geometry, loads, and supports.
When real-world imperfections are absent in the FEA
model, buckling will still happen, but it will be initiated by
imperfections introduced by discretization errors. There-
fore, nonlinear buckling requires a model with some ini-
tial imperfection. When no such imperfections are pres-
ent, they must be added to control the onset of buckling. In
the example, the imperfection is the notch.
Consider what happens in a nonlinear buckling analy-
Linear versus nonlinear analysis
Results of a linear-buckling analysis of the plate incorrectly
show the buckling direction (left). Nonlinear results correctly
predict that buckling happens towards the center of curvature
(right). A load-displacement curve would show a stiffening
effect in the postbuckling stage, meaning that the plate
regains stiffness after buckling has taken place.
sis of the notched beam.
Note that in the figure Nonlinear buckling, free end,
the red line shows that buckling happens at about
550 N, close to what the linear-buckling analysis pre-
dicted. The beam buckles towards the notched side as it
should. Then, the displacement grows at an almost con-
stant load. The result implies that the beam is capable of
balancing the 550 N acting at an increasing load offset,
but this is clearly unrealistic because the buckling of
the notched beam initiates a chain of events leading to
structural collapse.
To model these events, it is necessary to account for an-
other source of nonlinearity beside the already considered
geometric nonlinearity. That other source is yielding. This
is done by using an elastic perfectly plastic material, the
simplest type of nonlinear material models.
In the figure Nonlinear buckling, free end, the blue
line, which represents the load-displacement curve for
this material, looks much different than the red line.
The buckling still happens at 550 N, indicating that
the onset of buckling took place with the material still
in the elastic range. After a period of elastic buckling
(the vertical portion of the blue curve that leads to its
maximum load the beam can support), the load rapidly
drops. This is because to maintain equilibrium, it would
be necessary to reduce the applied force.
However, when the load stays the same, as is most often
the case, the end of the vertical portion of the curve marks
FEBRUARY 17, 2011 MACHINE Design.com 39
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Where modal and buckling analyses meet

Linear-buckling analysis is also called eigenvalue buckling or Euler buckling analysis because it predicts the theoretical
buckling strength of an elastic structure. Eigenvalues are values of load at which buckling takes place. Eigenvectors are
buckling shapes associated with the corresponding eigenvalues. According to eigenvalue-buckling analysis, buckling
takes place when — as a result of subtracting the stress stiffness induced by a compressive load from the elastic stiffness
— the resultant structure stiffness drops to zero.
Both linear-buckling analysis and modal analysis (which is also linear) can predict a large number of modes. In a
buckling analysis, the only mode of practical importance is the first one with a positive buckling load factor (BLF). In
modal analysis we are usually interested in the few first modes.

BUCKLING ANALYSIS MODAL ANALYSIS

Natural frequency (more precisely, the square
Eigenvalue Load-causing buckling
of angular frequency)
Mode (shape) assumed by the structure when Mode assumed by the structure as it vibrates
Eigenvector
loaded with a load-causing buckling with the natural frequency
How many modes have
The first mode with a positive BLF Usually only the first few modes
practical importance?
The table summarizes analogies and the differences between buckling and modal analysis.

The natural frequencies may significantly Frequency versus load

depend on the applied load. If this is the case,
modal analysis should account for prestress.
Tensile stresses boost natural frequencies,
illustrated by tuning a guitar string or by the
stress stiffening of a rotating component such
as a turbine blade.
Rotating machinery typically requires that
designers consider the effect of prestress.
Compressive stresses reduce natural
frequencies. For example, an analysis of The natural frequency of a
natural frequencies of a compressed column column under compressive
demonstrates that the first natural frequency load decreases as the
declines with the load. Note that load compressive load rises. The
magnitude corresponding to zero frequency load magnitude for which
equals the buckling load because this is when the frequency becomes zero
is the buckling load.
the compressed column looses its stiffness.

the beam’s structural collapse. Here, the beam is totally
plasticized and can no longer support the load. If you ex-
amined the deformed shape you would have noted that
most of the deformation takes place at the support where
the plastic “hinge” develops.
In repeating the analysis for the same beam with the
sliding restraint, the results, as shown in Nonlinear buck-
ling, sliding end, reveal that the linear material model
(red) predicts buckling at about 9,500 N, close to the lin-
ear BLF. However, a load this high causes yielding of the
entire cross section in the notched area and this cannot be
modeled with a linear elastic material model. The elastic-
perfectly plastic model (blue) shows that buckling takes
place at 2,500 N, when the notched cross section is already
plastic.
The upshot: linear-buckling analysis can only provide
limited information, often not enough to make a design
decision, especially when designing lightweight com-
ponents. Nonlinear-buckling analysis should, therefore,
become more routine in design departments. Most often
the nonlinear-buckling analysis should account both for
geometry nonlinearity and for nonlinear material. The
increased computing power of hardware combined with
easier-to-use FEA software now make it practical to add
nonlinear buckling analyses to almost any design engi-
neer’s toolbox. MD

40 MACHINE Design.com FEBRUARY 17, 2011