CITY AND GUILDS 9210

Unit 130
MECHANICS OF MACHINES AND STRENGTH OF MATERIALS
OUTCOME 4
TUTORIAL 1 - COMPRESSION MEMBERS

Outcome 4 Explain buckling of columns under different loading conditions.

The learner can:

1. Explain columns and failure of columns.

2. Explain critical load of a column and slenderness ratio.
3. Explain and apply Euler’s formula for buckling load for column with different end
conditions.
4. Explain the concept of equivalent length for various end conditions.
5. Explain Limitations of Euler’s formula, and Rankine’s formula.
6. Determine safe load on columns.

You should judge your progress by completing the self assessment exercises.

On completion of this tutorial you should be able to do the following.

 Define a strut.

 Extend bending theory to struts.

 Solve the loads at which struts collapse.

 Solve the sideways deflection of struts.

It is assumed that students doing this tutorial already familiar with the concepts of
second moments of area, bending stress, bending moments and deflection of beams.

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1. INTRODUCTION

Compression members are divided into three types.

1.1 SHORT

In this case the member is called a column and will fail when the ultimate compressive stress of the
material is exceeded. Failure will depend upon the type of material. Columns are usually made of brittle
material (concrete, stone or cast iron) and failure will be of the brittle type which is basically a crumbling
of the material. Columns were studied in Mechanical Science A.

1.2 LONG

Long members are called struts. These bend and bow out when compressed beyond a certain limit. Failure
occurs by bending when the maximum tensile stress is exceeded.

1.3 INTERMEDIATE

These are short enough to produce failure by bending but also short enough to produce compression
failure, especially if the material is brittle

This tutorial covers struts. Intermediate and short compression members are covered in the next tutorial.

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2. STRUTS

2.1 DEFINITIONS

A strut is a long thin compression member. It may collapse under a compressive load by buckling and
bowing out as shown in fig.1. The diagram shows the member with its length horizontal but it is just as
likely to be vertical. It is drawn this way so that the x-y coordinates are in the normal position at the left
end. x measures the distance along the length and y is the deflection.

Figure 1
2.2 SLENDERNESS RATIO
L
A strut is usually defined by its slenderness ratio. This is defined as S.R. 
k
L is the effective length and k is the radius of gyration for the cross sectional area.

2.3 RADIUS OF GYRATION k

I
The radius of gyration is defined as k
A
I is the 2nd moment of area and A is the cross sectional area.

WORKED EXAMPLE No.1

Derive formulae for the radius of gyration of a circle diameter D and a rectangle width B and depth D.

πD 4 πD 2 4D 4 D
Circle I A k 
64 4 64D 2
4

BD 3 BD 3 D
Rectangle I A  BD k  
12 12BD 12

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 WORKED EXAMPLE No.2

Calculate the slenderness ratio of a strut made from a hollow tube 20 mm outside diameter and 16 mm
inside diameter and 1.2 metres long.
I
 
π D4  d4

 
π 20 4  16 4
 4637mm 4
64 64

A

π D d
2 2


π 20 2  16 2  113.1 mm 2
4 4
For a hollow tube the second moment of area is
I 4637
k   6.4 mm
A 113.1
L 1200 mm
S.R.    187.5
k 6.4 mm

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No.1

1. Find the radius of gyration and the slenderness ratio of a strut made from 5 m length of hollow tube 50
mm outer diameter and 40 mm inner diameter.
(Ans 16 mm and 312.3)

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2. THEORY

2.1 CRITICAL LOAD

The force applied to a strut is in an axial direction (the x direction) and not transversely (y direction) as it
is for beams. Consider a long thin strut resting against a solid surface at one end and with a screw device at
the other as shown. The distance from the end is x and the deflection is y. When the screw is tightened, the
strut is forced to deflect sideways. The more the screw is turned the more the strut deflects. If the strut
bends as shown, there must be a bending moment and a bending stress in the material. The applied bending
moment is Fy. The force applied by the screw and the distance y will increase as the bending moment
increases. At some point it will be found that the screw can be turned with no further increase in the force.
This can be explained because the increase in deflection alone is sufficient to produce the required increase
in the bending moment. The strut will go on bending until it fails (usually by exceeding the yield stress in
the material and leaving it permanently bent). When this point is reached the strut has failed and the
critical force Fc has been reached.

Figure 2

Now consider a vertical strut with weights causing the compression. If the
weights are less than the critical force Fc the strut is unlikely to deflect
very much as it is no longer forced to do so. However when the critical
value is reached, the strut collapses suddenly and fails as there is nothing
to stop it. This might be explained as follows.

If the load is critical, the strut will start to deflect. As the distance y
increases so will the bending moment. This in turn makes it deflects even
further. This is a run away or unstable condition and the strut keeps on
bending and fails. A strut is an unstable structure as collapse is sudden
and without warning.

Figure 3

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2.2 EULER'S THEORY FOR COLLAPSE

No strut can be perfectly straight and a force applied as shown will make it bend slightly when an axial
compression load is applied. The direction in which it moves is random so let’s sketch it so that it bows
upwards on the diagram. Note that the force is not a transverse force in the y direction but an axial force
applied in the x direction. Consider any distance x from the end. The strut has deflected a distance y. The
bending moment at this point is M = F y. This will be a maximum at the point where the deflection is
greatest so let this maximum value of y be denoted ym.

Figure 4

The applied bending moment is M = -Fy (minus because it hogs)

If the strut does not collapse, the internal bending moment must balance the applied moment and this is
given by bending theory as

d2y
M  EI  Fy (minus because it hogs)
dx 2
d2y
EI  Fy Rearrange
dx 2
d 2 y Fy
  0 This is a second order differential equation with a standard solution.
dx 2 EI
y  Acos(cx)  Bsin(cx)
F
A and B are constant of integratio n and c represents the expression
EI
A and B are solved from boundary conditions. We know that for the case illustrated the deflection is zero
at the ends and a maximum at the middle.

x=0 y = 0 and at x = L y = 0

First substitute y = 0 and x = 0 into the solution.

0 = Acos(0) + B(sin 0) = A(1) + B(0) hence A = 0

Next substitute y = 0 and x = L

0 = Acos(cL) + Bsin (cL) = 0 cos(cL) + B sin(cL) from which B sin (cL) = 0

If B is zero the solution is always zero and this clearly is not the case. It follows that sin (cL)= 0 and this
occurs when cL = 0, 180o, 360o, and so on.
In radians this is cL= , 2, 3 and so on. In general cL = n where n is an integer.

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We may state that
cL  nπ
F
L  nπ
EI
EI
F  n 2 π 2 2 and the corresponding deflection is y  Bsin(cL) which may be evaluated.
L
If the strut does not have a symmetrical cross section, it will buckle about the axis with least resistance
(smallest value of I). For a rectangular section B must always be the larger of the two dimensions.

Figure 5

This is the formula usually given in exams and the above derivation should be practised prior to the exam.
n is called the mode and its meaning is very real. A node is any point where the strut does not deflect. If
the strut is restrained at any point (e.g. guy ropes on a mast) that point will be a node. The diagram shows
what happens when the restraints are placed at the middle (n = 2) and at equal distances of 1/3 of the
length (n = 3). n = 1 is the fundamental mode.

Figure 6
This derivation is due to Euler and the value of F is called Euler's critical load.

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There are three other modes of importance which are governed by the way the ends are constrained.

Half Mode with n = 0.5 occurs when one end is held rigidly and the other is
unrestrained.

Figure 7

Another double mode with n = 2 occurs when both ends are held rigidly.

Figure 8

An unusual mode with n = 1.43 occurs when one end is held rigidly but the other end is
pinned (allowed to rotate) but not allowed to move sideways.

Figure 9

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 WORKED EXAMPLE No.3

A strut is 2 m long and has a rectangular cross section 30 mm x 20 mm. The bottom is built into a
ground socket and the top is completely unrestrained. Given E = 200 GPa calculate the buckling load.

SOLUTION
2 2 2
F = n  EI/L
This case is as shown in fig. 7 with n = 0.5
3 -8 4
I = BD /12 = 2 x 10 m
2 2 9 -8 2
F = 0.5  x200 x 10 x 2 x 10 /2
F = 2470 N

WORKED EXAMPLE No.4

Repeat the previous problem but with the strut is pinned at the top and bottom and not allowed to
move sideways.

SOLUTION
2 2 2
F = n  EI/L
This case is as shown in fig. 6 with n = 1
3 -8 4
I = BD /12 = 2 x 10 m
2 2 9 -8 2
F = 1  x200 x 10 x 2 x 10 /2
F = 9870 N.

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 SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No. 2

1. A steel strut is 0.15 m diameter and 12 m long. It is built in rigidly at the bottom but completely
unrestrained at the top.

Calculate the buckling load taking E = 205 GPa.

(Ans. 89.4 kN).

2. A steel strut has a solid circular cross section and is 8 m long. It is pinned at the top and bottom but
unable to move laterally at the ends. The strut collapses under a load of 200 kN. Taking E = 205 GPa
calculate the diameter of the strut.

(Ans 106.5 mm).

3. A shaft is made from alloy tubing 50 mm outer diameter and 30 mm inner diameter. The shaft is
placed between bearings 3 m apart so that the ends are constrained to remain horizontal. The shaft also
has to take a horizontal axial load. Taking E = 120 GPa determine the maximum axial load before
buckling occurs.
(Ans. 140 kN).

4. A strut is 0.2 m diameter and 15 m long. It is pinned at both ends. Calculate Euler's critical load. E =
205 GPa

(Ans. 706.25 kN)

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2.3 VALIDITY LIMIT OF EULER'S THEORY

Euler's theory is inaccurate when the slenderness ratio is small. If the strut is very thin, then the material
will simply crush under the axial compression. The slenderness ratio limit depends upon the material but
generally if the ratio is less than 120 for steel or less than 80 for aluminium and its alloys, the crushing
becomes important and failure will occur at loads smaller than those predicted by Euler.

3. DEFLECTION OF STRUTS

It is of interest to know the deflection of a strut at loads less than the buckling value. This can be very
complicated work but we do not have to go into full details.

When the strut buckles, it fails because it reaches the elastic limit of the material in compression.

The strut is put into compression by the load and the direct compressive stress is 
D = F/A
Bending stress is also induced in the strut which tends to be tensile on one side and compressive on the
other. This is given by :
B= M/I

Figure 10

 is the distance from the neutral axis to the extreme edge in compression (this is denoted y in beam stress
problems but y is unsuited to this case). M is the bending moment Fy. The total compressive stress is
hence
 = F/A + M/I
At the point of collapse this is the elastic limit in compression c and the deflection is ym.
F Fy δ
σc   m
A I
 F I
ym  σc  
 A  Fδ

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 WORKED EXAMPLE No.5

A strut is made is made from 16 mm diameter steel bar. The buckling load is 2400 N. The elastic limit
in compression is 320 MPa. Calculate the deflection just prior to collapse.

SOLUTION
4 -9
I = D /64 = 3.217 x 10 m4.
2 -6 2
A =D /4 = 201 x 10 m .
6 2
c =320 x 10 N/m .

 = D/2 = 0.008 m

 2400   3.217 x 10 -9 
y m   320 x 10 6  x   0.0516 m or 51.6 mm
 201 x 10 -6   2400 x 0.008 

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 SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No. 3

1.a A uniform slender elastic column of length L is pin jointed at each end and subjected to an axial
compression load P.

Show that the Euler crippling load occurs when P = 2EI/L2 where I is the relevant second
moment of area of the column and E is the modulus of elasticity of the material. State any assumptions
made.

b A straight steel rod 0.5 m long and 0.01 m diameters loaded axially until it buckles. Assuming that the
ends of the rod are pin jointed, determine the Euler crippling load. Assume E = 206 GPa.
(Ans. 3.992 kN)

2.a The Euler buckling load P for a slender strut of length L and second moment of area I, pin jointed at
each end , is given by P = 2EI/L2
E is the modulus of elasticity of the material. Using this expression without proof, obtain the formula
for the Euler buckling load when the strut is

i. fixed (built in) at each end.

ii. fixed at one end and pin jointed at the other.

b) Fig. 11 shows a vertical pole 6 m long, pinned at the lower end and supported by a wire at the upper
end. The pole consists of a tube 50 mm outside diameter and 40 mm inside diameter and the wire has
an effective diameter of 6 mm. What is the maximum load P that this system can withstand before
failure occurs?

For steel assume that the modulus of elasticity E is 206 GPa and for the wire assume that the ultimate
stress is 480 MPa.

Figure 11

(Answer, the rope breaks before the pole buckles so the maximum value of P is 9.59 kN)

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3.a A uniform slender strut of length L which is clamped at one end and free at the other is subjected to an
axial compression load P as shown in fig.12. Show that according to EULER'S theory, the strut will
buckle when P= (/2L)2EI where I is the minimum second moment of area of the strut and E is the
modulus of elasticity for the material.

b A straight steel rod 9 mm diameter is rigidly built into a foundation, the free end protruding 0.5 m
normal to the foundation. An axial load is applied to the free end of the rod which deflects as shown in
fig.12.
Determine the following.

i. Euler’s buckling load. (636 N)

ii. The deflection of the free end of the rod when the total compressive stress reaches the elastic limit.
(32.6 mm)

For steel assume E = 200GPa and the stress at the elastic limit is 300MPa.

Figure 12

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