ABSTRACT
This chapter advances the general framework for the mathematical treatment of buckling and bifurcation problems as a foundation of the whole book. The principle of stationary total potential energy is introduced as a systematic means to derive the governing equation. The concepts of critical point and stability are presented using the Jacobian matrix of the governing equation. A procedure to obtain the buckling load and the buckling mode of a structure is introduced. This chapter deals with fundamental buckling issues while relying on tracing an equilibrium path in Chapter 3, the branch switching to a bifurcation path in Chapter 4, and the analysis of the post-buckling behavior in Chapter 5.
