Structural Stability

Structures fail mainly either due to material failure or because of buckling

or structural instability.

Buckling does not occur as a result of the applied stress reaching a certain
predictable strength of the material.
It depends on dimensions of the member, the support conditions, and its
stiffness
More and more structures are failing because of stability problems because of
the present trend to use high strength materials and large size structures
Increase in size leads to increase in slenderness ratio making these structures
reach their stability limit before their material strength
 Stability Analysis Methods
Displaced Shape Equilibrium Method

Equilibriium conditionEs are formulated on the basis of the deformed

shape of the structure in stability analysis by this method. This is called
the second order analysis. Critical load is the load for which
equilibrium in the slightly bent shape is possible.

This method is also known as Eigenvalue method because of its

similarity to the technique used in linear algebra.

Critical conditions are represented by the eigenvalues of the

stiffness matrix of the system.
Displaced shapes are given by the eigenvectors.
The lowest eigenvalue is the critical load of the system.
 Energy Method

For an elastic system subjected to conservative forces, the potential

energy (P.E.) of a system can be expressed as a function of external
applied loads and the corresponding displacements.
Conservative forces are those whose P.E. is dependent on the final
values of deflection, and not on the apth to reach these
deflections.
If the system is in equilibrium , its total P.E. must be stationary, i.e.,
V= 0. Or
V V V V
dV x1 x2 x3 xn
x1 x2 x3 xn

Where x1 , x2 , x3 , -----, xn are gneralized displacements.

 If dV = 0 for all values of xi , then V
, i 1, 2, 3, - - - -n
xi 0
The critical load can be obtained from the equilibrium equations.

2V
0 2V
xi 2 0
2
x i

To determine whether the equilibrium is stable or unstable, the higher

derivative of P.E. is investigated.

Dynamic Method

Here a system of equations of motion governing vibration of the

system is written. The critical load is obtained as the level of external
force when the motion ceases to be bnounded.