ABSTRACT
When a slender structure is loaded in compression, for small loads it deforms with hardly any noticeable change in geometry and loadcarrying ability. On reaching a critical load value, the structure suddenly experiences a large deformation and it may lose its ability to carry the load. At this stage, the structure is considered to have buckled. For example, when a rod is subjected to an axial compressive force, it first shortens slightly but at a critical load the rod bows out, and we say that the rod has buckled. In the case of a thin circular ring under radial pressure, the ring decreases in size slightly before buckling into a number of circumferential waves. For a cruciform column under axial compression, it shortens and then buckles in torsion.
