Buckling failure of a pin ended slender column

FACT FILE

  • TYPICAL STEEL YIELD STRENGTH
    275 N/mm2
  • Failure Mechanism
    Buckling leading to failure from material effects

This video shows the buckling failure of a pin-ended, slender, steel column under an axial compression load.

Learning Outcomes:

Viewers will gain an improved understanding of:

  • Column buckling
  • Geometric effects vs material effects
  • Slenderness
  • Influence of end restraint on buckling behaviour in columns

Initially the column behaves elastically until the column starts to displace sideways (or buckle). The video demonstrates how the strength of the column rapidly decreases once the buckling instability has occurred.

Structures expert, Doctor Ahmer Wadee of Imperial College, London narrates this video. Doctor Wadee is Reader in Nonlinear Mechanics in the Structures Section at Imperial College’s Department of Civil Engineering.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at info@thinkup.org