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.
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