BUCKLING OF STRUTS 

Experiment - K 

ME18B057   ME18B059 ME18B060 

ME18B061 ME18B062 ME18B063 

ME18B064 
26.08.2019 
Applied Mechanics Lab 

 
 

Objective: 

To study the buckling of a column under axially applied load with various boundary 
conditions and compare the experimental buckling loads with the Euler buckling 
formulae. 

Equipment Required: 

Buckling Apparatus, Plastic and Steel Struts of varied length. 

​About the Apparatus: 

The main part of the apparatus is the back plate with a load cell at one end and a device 
to load the struts at the top. At one end is a loading device which uses a screw to apply 
loads to the struts. The screw is in fixing blocks with bearings to give precise and easy 
load application.The bottom chuck fixes to an articulated parallelogram mechanism, 
which prevents rotation but allows movement in the vertical direction against the ring 
load cell. At the opposite end is the load measuring device. This is a precision mechanism 
that resists the bending moments produced by the struts as they deflect, and transmits 
the pure axial force to an electronic load cell. This gives an accurate measurement of 
buckling load. The mechanism reacts to the considerable side thrust produced by the 
strut under buckling conditions, with little friction in the vertical direction. A digital load 
meter shows the load.  

Experimental Setup for Buckling of Struts 

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Theory: 

Buckling 

Members in compression can fail either by crushing (excessive compressive stress) or by 
buckling: short members fail by crushing while long slender members fail by buckling. ​A 
type of failure that is sometimes overlooked for ​a body subject to compressive loading​, 
is that due to instability, called buckling. ​Buckling is a form of instability, it occurs 
suddenly with large changes in deformation but little change in loading. 

·​ ​Critical Buckling Load:​ For a given column the minimum load causing buckling depends on
the geometrical and mechanical characteristics (​length, cross-section, Young’s modulus,
and end support condition​) of the column.

  

The longer and more slender the column is, the lower the safe compressive stress 
that it can stand.​ The slenderness of a column is measured by the slenderness ratio, ​L/k​, 
where ​L​ is the length of the column and (lower case) ​k = (I/A)​1/2​ the radius of gyration of 
the cross sectional area about the centroidal axis. The minimum radius of gyration is the 
one to be considered. This corresponds to the minimum value of I, the second moment of 
area of the section. ​A​ is the cross section area. 

The radius of gyration is determined from the second moment of area: divided by the 
cross-section area. For a rectangular bar, having width and depth, the second moment of 
area is; 

Buckling Direction:​ As the critical buckling load is proportional to I, a column will 

buckle in the direction corresponding to the minimum value of I. 

  

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  Diagrammatic Representation of Buckling of Struts 

Euler’s Formula 

The general Euler buckling formula for struts is: 

Where, Pcr is the Euler buckling load (N), E is Young’s modulus (GPa), I is the second 
moment of area (mm​4​). Choose appropriately I​xx​ or I​yy​ for given cross section) L​e​ = 
Effective length of strut (mm); 

For Hinged- Hinged L​e​ = L, 

For Hinged-Fixed  L​e​ =L/(2)^0.5 ; and  

Fixed-Fixed  L​e​ =L/2 

Young’s modulus Steel  E​ss =

​ 210 GPa 

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Assumptions made in Euler’s formula: 

·​ ​The material of the column is homogeneous and isotropic.

·​ ​The compressive load on the column is axial only.

·​ ​The column is free from initial stress.

·​ ​The weight of the column is neglected.

·​ ​The column is initially straight (no eccentricity of the axial load).

·​ ​Pin joints are friction-less (no moment constraint) and fixed ends are rigid (no rotation
deflection).

·​ ​The cross-section of the column is uniform throughout its length.

·​ ​The direct stress is very small as compared to the bending stress (the material is
compressed only within the elastic range of strains).

·​ ​The length of the column is very large as compared to the cross-sectional dimensions of
the column.

·​ ​The column fails only by buckling. This is true if the compressive stress in the column does
not exceed the yield strength σ​y​.

  

Procedure 

Make sure the digital force display is ‘on’. Check that the mini DIN lead from ‘Force Input 
1’ on the Digital Force Display to socket marked ‘Force Output’ on the right – hand side of 
the unit. Carefully Zero the force meter using the dial on the front panel of the 
instrument. Gently apply a small load with a finger to the top of the load cell mechanism 
and release. Zero the meter again if necessary. Repeat to ensure that the meter returns to 
zero. Note: If the meter is only +/- 1N, lightly tap the frame (there may be a little ‘stiction’ 
and this should overcome it) 

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​1. Buckling Load of a Pinned-Pinned End Strut:  

i. Referring to Figure 3, fit the bottom chuck to the machine and remove the top chuck. 

ii. Use the strut given for your experiments. Measure the cross section using the vernier. 

iii. Adjust the position of the sliding cross crosshead to accept the strut using the 
thumbnuts to lock off the slider. Ensure that there is maximum amount of travel 
available on the hand wheel thread to compress the strut. Finally tighten the locking 
screws.  

iv. Carefully back off the hand wheel so that the strut is resting in the notch but not 
transmitting any load; rezero the forcemeter using the front panel control. 

v. Carefully start the loading of the strut. If the strut begins to buckle to the left, “flick” 
the strut to the right and vice versa (this reduces any errors associated with the 
straightness of the strut) 

vi. Turn the hand wheel until there is no further increase in load (the load may peak and 
then drop as it settles into the notches). Do not load the struts after the buckling load has 
been reached otherwise the strut will become permanently deformed. Record the final 
load as shown in sample table under ‘buckling load’. Try loading the strut three times 
and take the average of these as the experimental buckling load.  

  

2. Buckling load of a Pinned – Fixed End Strut 

i. Follow the same procedure as in experiment 1, but this time remove the bottom chuck 
and clamp the specimen using the cap head screw and plate to make a pinned –fixed end 
condition (Fig. 4). Do not load the struts after the buckling load has been reached 
otherwise the strut will become permanently deformed. 

ii. Record your results as per the sample table. Note that the test length of the struts is 
shorter than in Experiment 1 due to allowance made for clamping the specimen. Use this 
changed length in calculations.   

  

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​Pinned-Pinned Ends Fixed-Pinned Ends 

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​OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATIONS  

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​TABLES 

Rough 

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Fair 

1. Buckling Load of a Pinned-Pinned End strut 

Buckling Load(P​cr) 
(Experimental) 
Breadth  Buckling Load  % Error  
Length  Thicknes I​XX​ (mm​4​)  I​yy​ (mm​4​)  ​N 
Strut No.  (b)  theory  (Theo-Exp)/
(L) mm  s (d) mm  bd​3​/12  b​3​d/12 
mm  N  Theo 
Trial  Average 

125,12
1.a  370  1.6  37.26  12.71  6897.1  128.33  192.42  33.3 
9,131 

10,11,1
1.b  328  0.8  23.8  1.015  896.75  11  16.55  33.5 
2 

6301.1 66,67,6
1.c  470  1.4  37.8  8.6436  66.33  80.98  18.09 
84  6 

2. Buckling Load of a Pinned-Fixed End strut 

Buckling Load(P​cr) 
(Experimental) 
Breadth  Buckling Load  % Error 
Length  Thicknes I​XX​ (mm​4​)  I​yy​ (mm​4​)  ​N 
Strut No.  (b)  theory  (Theo-Exp)/
(L) mm  s (d) mm  bd​3​/12  b​3​d/12 
mm  N  Theo 
Trial  Average 

294,29
2.a  348.6  1.6  37.26  12.71  6897.1  294.33  412.9  28.71 
6,293 

27,26,2
2.b  306.6  0.8  23.8  1.015  896.75  27  40.71  33.67 
8 

6301.1 159,16
2.c  448.6  1.4  37.8  8.6436  161.33  177.86  9.29 
84  2,163 

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GRAPH 

Pinned-Pinned End Strut 

Pinned-Fixed End Strut 

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RESULTS AND CONCLUSION 

From the values given in table it can be seen that different columns buckle at different 
critical loads. The buckling depends on many factors such as the material by which the 
column is made of and the way by which both ends are fixed or pinned.The E value of all 
struts are the same but there is difference in the I and L values.It is observed that all the 
struts buckled in a half sine wave when both ends are pinned. When one end was fixed 
the effective length of strut was reduced to value of 0.7L. So the buckling load varies for 
pinned-pinned strut and fixed-pinned strut. 

According to Euler formula, the buckling load is directly proportional to area moment of 
inertia I and inversely proportional to square of length. This is verified from 
experimental data. 

.​There are errors in the range of 10-35% between experimental and theoretical 
values. This could be due to: 

1. Human error in measurement of dimensions of strut 

2. Instrument error 
3. Repeated usage of same strut for a long period of time.This leads to 
deviations from the theoretical case which is derived for an ideal strut 

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