ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces buckling and bifurcation behaviors of structures. Physically, these behaviors are shown to arise from the loss of shapes of the structures. Mathematically, buckling and bifurcation behaviors can be ascribed to the nonlinearity of the governing equation. While the general framework of the mathematical treatment of buckling and bifurcation problems is presented in Chapter 2, the concepts of bifurcation and buckling and the basic mathematical issues are introduced in this chapter. Total potential energy, governing equation, critical point, and stability are introduced as basic concepts to be employed throughout the book.
