Fundamentals of Structural Stability





PREFACE

Knowledge of structural stability theory is of paramount importance to the prac-

ticing structural engineer.

In тапу instances, buckling is the primary consideration

in the design

of various structural configurations. Because of this, formal courses in

this important branch

of mechanics are available to students in Aerospace Engin-

eering, Civil Engineering, Engineering Science

and Mechanics, and Mechanical

Engineering

at тапу institutions of higher learning. This book is intended to serve

as

а text in such courses. The emphasis of the book is оп the fundamental concepts

and оп the methodology developed through the years to solve structural stability

problems.

The material contained in this text is ideally suited for

а two-semester Master's level

course, although with judicious deletion

of topics, the text тау Ье adopted for а one-

semester course.

The first chapter introduces the basic concepts

ofelastic stability and the approaches

used in solving stability problems.

It also discusses the different buckling phenom-

ena that have been observed in nature.

In Chapter 2, the basic concepts and

methodology are applied to some simple mechanical models with finite degrees of

freedom. This is done to help the student understand the fundamentals without

getting involved with lengthy and complicated mathematical operations, which is

usually the case when dealing with the continuum (infinitely

тапу degrees of

freedom). In Chapter 3, а complete treatment of the elastic stability of columns is

presented, including effects of elastic restraints. New to this edition are treatments of

the elastica theory of beams and of the buckling of thin-walled beam-columns. This

new material facilitates the solutions

of several problems in later chapters. Some

simple frame problems are discussed in Chapter

4. Moreover, а nonlinear analysis of

frames is presented, which clearly shows that in some cases, buckling occurs through

limit-point instability. This chapter

is of special importance to the Civil Engineering

student. Since energy-based methods have been successfully used in structural

mechanics,

Chapter 5 presents а comprehensive treatment of the energy criterion

for stability

and contains тапу energy-related methods. The study of this chapter

requires some knowledge

of work- and energy-related principles and theorems.


Download
*