Improved Technique for Estimating Buckling Loads

Abstract

An improved version of the Rayleigh technique is applied to prediction of critical buckling loads of prismatic columns, stepped columns, and tapered columns. Both the Rayleigh (curvature) or potential energy expression and the Timoshenko (deflection) or complementary energy are utilized and applied to predicting upper bounds. Results are compared with exact solutions, where available, and with results of other approximate techniques. It is demonstrated that the technique considerably increases the accuracy of both the Rayleigh (one‐term) and Rayleigh‐Ritz (two‐term) techniques, especially when used in conjunction with complementary energy, without requiring the use of more than a hand‐held calculator.