Nigerian Journal of Technology, Vol. 25, No.

1, March 2006 Jiki 36

STABILITY MATRICES FOR LATERAL BUCKLING ANALYSIS OF

BEAMS

DR. PETER NYITYO JIKI

Department of Civil Engineering
University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 2373,
Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria.
Email: peterjiki@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
In the present work, a new formulation for lateral buckling of beams comprising bi-
symmetric sections has been proposed. The formulation employs a coupled lateral buckling
functional to investigate the lateral buckling behaviour of a class of beams comprising bi-
symmetric sections. While retaining the coupled modes of displacements at buckling, the
formulation focuses attention on the need to reduce the number of degrees of freedom per
element so that the solution process can be carried out on small microcomputers. This effort
will be of interest to design offices, which have investments in microcomputers to ease their
routine designs. The results obtained from the present formulation compare well with those
published in the literature. There is also a gain in the fact that the formulation can be
programmed either in basic or FORTRAN and with efficient programming, a saving in
computer time can be made.

1.0 INTRODUCTION which warping element displacement was

Lateral buckling of beams has been included. In the present work, it is assumed
found to pose many engineering challenges that warping is restrained. This is done so as
both to the researchers and the design to reduce the size of the problem so that
engineer. However, following the pioneering microcomputers can be used. Further more,
analytical works of Michell [1] and Prandtl uncoupled formulation is that employed to
[2], each working independently of the other test the accuracy of the two equilibrium
and each working on the stability of long states formulation first proposed by Powell
beams under transverse forces, there and Klingner [7],Jiki [9] and Jiki [10]. With
followed numerous analytical contributions this reduction, any method well-written and
to the theory of lateral buckling of beams in portable (micro) computer program for
the literature (e.g. see refs [3-6]). lateral buckling analysis such as the one
However, with the development in reported by Jiki [8] can be employed to
computer technology (cheaper and more extract the eigenvalues of interest. Nethercot
efficient computers are now available), and Rockey [11] have also reported their
emphasis has shifted from both analytical findings on the finite element solutions for
and experimental to the numerical solution buckling of columns and beams in which
of the lateral buckling problem. In this they investigated the effect of lateral
direction names that quickly come to mind restraint and partial yielding of the beam
are: Powell and Klingner [7] have reported section. The present effort employs elastic
their findings on lateral buckling analysis of analysis and focuses attention on lateral
steel I-section beams. They employed a two buckling displacements and angles of twist
equilibrium state and sate formulation in of the beam.
 Nigerian Journal of Technology, Vol. 25, No. 1, March 2006 Jiki 37

One of the most recent works on lateral 6 Uniform bending of beams and
buckling of beams by the finite element cantilevers is assumed.
method has been reported by Attard [12] in
which he investigated the behaviour of a 3.0 TOTAL POTENTIAL ENERGY
general thin-walled section in the derivation FUNCTIONAL
of his stability matrices. However, such The total potential Energy of a bi- symmetric
stability matrices need not be used directly thin-walled element shown in fig. 1 is given
to solve bi-symmetric problems because as:  e  U  W (1)
both monosymmetric and asymmetric In which U is the strain energy of the
parameters have already been included in the element and W is the work done by the
integration of elements of the matrices. loads. For a thin-walled beam element
Another recent work on lateral buckling of considered herein, the strain energy is given
beams employing the use of the finite as:
element method has come from Kitipornchai
1   d  
L 2
d 2v d 2u
2 0 
and Chan [13]. However, they too have U  X 2
EI  EI Y  GJ   dz
employed mono symmetric and asymmetric dz dz 2  dz  
parameters to derive elements of their (2)
stability matrices. Therefore use of their In which E and G= Youngs modulus
stability matrices directly to solve bi- and shear modulus respectively, Ix and IY
symmetric problems would introduce errors =.The second moments of area about the
due to inclusion of above-mentioned principal X and Y axes. J is St. Venant
parameters. torsion constant. Equation (2) gives rise to
It can be seen from the above review that element elastic stiffness matrix [14].
although bi-symmetric beams are among the The work done W by the applied loads
most widely used beams in Engineering during deformation of the element is given
construction, stability matrices employing as: W  W1  W2 (3)
the finite element method and the concept of In which WI is due to linear nodal
two equilibrium states to study the behaviour deformations and W2 is the nonlinear part
of such beams using micro-computers are arising from changes of geometry.
lacking. Thus the purpose of the present For the present work, there is no axial
effort is to provide such matrices effect and loads are applied in the y-z
plane only (assumptions: Loads and shears
2.0 ASSUMPTIONS are applied in the y-z plane only, prismatic
The following assumptions are made sections are used and we assume that
in the present effort warping torsion is zero i.e. EIW = 0).
1 The beams used for the present work Therefore the product of applied loads
are prismatic gives W1 with their respective
2 Loads are applied at the vertical axis displacements as:
plane and at the top flange of the W1  [ Fy1U1  M z1 z1  M y1 y1
beam element only. (4)
 Fy 2U 2  M z 2 z 2  M y 2 y 2 ]T
3 Effect of load height on lateral
buckling is not considered. In which F, M, are shears and
4 Only beams of bi-symmetric sections moments and u,  are lateral displacements
are considered. and rotations respectively at the end nodes.
5 Uniform torsion of the beam element The subscripts 1 and 2 refer to the near and
has been assumed. far nodes. M, is torsional moment and the
 Nigerian Journal of Technology, Vol. 25, No. 1, March 2006 Jiki 38

angle of twist  is equal toz2 - z1· Fy  dvi dvi dui du i 

dv   vol  .  . dv (11)
A  dy dz dy dz 
The geometric stiffness matrix
The usual expression for geometric The moments Mz and My can be expressed in
stiffness matrix for a continuum beam their nodal values by assuming linear
element is given as: variation as:
W2    ij  ij dv (5) M z  M z1 1  M z 2 2 (12)
vol
M y  M x1 1  M x 2 2 (13)
In which ij and ij are the stress and
quadratic strain tensor respectively. For the
present work it is sufficient to employ only In which  is angle of twist (i. e. z1-z2)
direct stress zz and yz (assumption 2) such 1  1
z
(14)
that W2 is given as: L

   zz  2l yz  yz dv
W2  z
zz (6) 2 (15)
vol L
For any arbitrary applied. loads in the yz The shear force in the horizontal plane Fy is
plane the stresses c and t are given as: obtained by simple statics
M Y M X
 zz  z  Y (7) Consider the deformations to be small
J Iy
and finite; we have vi and ui in terms of
Fy
 yz  (8) angle of twist z as:
A
Vi  v   z X (16)
In which M, is twisting moment along
the element. My is moment causing ui  u   z y (17)
lateral (out of plane) bending, F is Substitution of equations (12)-(17) into
shear force and A is area of section. equation (11) and simplifying gives:
Also for a bi-symmetric section, X and  du d 
W2   M z1 1  M z 2 2  2 . z dz
1
Yare distances from the extreme fibres 2L  dz dz 
to the centroidal axes of the section. 1
 M x 1  M x 2 2 
2 L
The corresponding quadratic strain 
tensor is given as:
 dv d z  du
1  dvi   du i   2 . dz   Fy z
2 2
dz (18)
 zz       (9)  dz dz  L
dz
2  dz   dz  
A set of displacement functions id
1  du du dv dv  now proposed as:
 zz   i . i  i . i  (10)
2  dy dx dy dx  1 
v   a1 a 2 a 3 a 4   (19)
    z 
In which vi and ui= the displacement of an u    b1b2 b3 b4  2 
  c c c b  z 
arbitrary point on the cross section in the y  z   1 2 3 4  3 
z 
and x directions respectively Substitution of
The displacement functions in equations
equations (7),(8),(9) and (10) into equation
(19)are usually transformed to element nodal
(6), the continuum work done by W2 in
variables r. Therefore in terms of the nodal
deforming the element is given
displacement variables, W2 is written as:
1  M zy M yx   dvi  2  du i  2 
W2   vol   W2  r T K G r
  1
 I   dz   dz   (20)
2  x Iy    2
In which [KG]=element geometric stiffness
matrix, r is nodal displacement vector and is
 Nigerian Journal of Technology, Vol. 25, No. 1, March 2006 Jiki 39

given here as: known solutions by Jiki [10] and

 u1 z1 y1u 2 z 2 y 2  Kitipornchai and Chan [13] is good. Infact
T T
r (21)
the present formulation has produced better
In which the components of the vector rT
results with fewer elements and tends to
corresponding to {V1 qxI v2 qX2}. As shown
stabilize as the number of elements
in figure 1 have been suppressed from
increases. A closed form solution for the
equation (21) to focus attention on lateral
problem can be found in Kitipomchai and
buckling behaviour only [9, 10]. The element
Chan [13] and is given as:
geometric stiffness matrix kG is presented in
appendix A of the present work. Pcr 
4.013
EI y GJ 1/ 2 (23)
L
The third and last of the examples
4.0 EXAMPLES ON BIFURCATION
considered for validation of the proposed
ANALYSIS
The validity of the present formulation theory employs a simply supported beam of
is tested against three examples employing rectangular cross-section. The beam is
bifurcation analysis. The software code used loaded with constant moments Mo at the
for the stability calculation is that reported supports. Once more a bifurcation analysis
by Jiki [8].The first of the three examples is has produced a set of results, which is
a simply supported beam of I -section, The presented in Fig.4.The results compare well
beam is loaded with a constant moment M at with known solutions by Jiki [10] and
both ends. A known closed form solution for Kitipornchai and Chan [13]. Convergence
this type of problem exists and can be found for the present formulation was achieved
in Attard [12] and is given here as: with 8 elements while Kitipornchai and Chan
[13] achieved convergence with only 6

M cr  EI y GJ 
1/ 2
(22) elements and Jiki [10] has achieved
L
convergence will 12 elements employing the
A finite element solution of the beam in
sane software tool reported by Jiki [8]. A
question has been carried out employing the
closed form solution employing the classical
present formulation and bifurcation analysis
Rayleigh-Ritz method was carried out by Jiki
for which a convergence study is presented
[9] and is reproduced here as:
in fig.2 and compares well with results of
studies by Jiki [10] and Attard [12]. The
comparison is good. Convergence has been M ocr 
3.46
EI y GJ 1/ 2 (24)
L
achieved with only 4 elements.
It can be seen from the three examples
The second example employs a
considered here that the present theory is
cantilever beam of rectangular cross- section
valid for beams of bi-symmetric sections in
and a bifurcation analysis to test the validity
which uniform (warping torsion is not
of the proposed formulation is presented in
considered
fig.3. Again the software code developed by
Jiki [8] has been used in the bifurcation
calculations. It can be seen that even after 16
elements convergence has not been
achieved. However, the comparison with
.
Nigerian Journal of Technology, Vol. 25, No. 1, March 2006 Jiki 40
Nigerian Journal of Technology, Vol. 25, No. 1, March 2006 Jiki 41

5.0 CONCLUSION results, which lead to the following

The present formulation, which has conclusions.
paid particular attention to a general (1) The use of stiffness matrices derived
behaviour of a flexural torsional buckling of from bi-symmetric sections will produce
bi-symmetric thin-walled beams in the better results over the use of stiffness
absence of uniform torsion, has produced matrices derived using asymmetric
 Nigerian Journal of Technology, Vol. 25, No. 1, March 2006 Jiki 42

sections to solve bi- symmetric [7] Powell, G.H. and Klinger, R. Elastic
problems. Lateral Buckling of Thin-beams. J.
(2) For some problems omission of uniform Struct. Div ASCE, Vol. 96, 1970, pp
torsion may not introduce large errors in 1919-1932.
the solution. Therefore for preliminary
analysis (for design) warping may be [8] Jiki, P.N. A Computer Program for
omitted for bi-symmetric sections. Lateral Buckling Analysis of Bi-
(3) The use of two-stage equilibrium Symmetric Beams. J. of Engr'g
formulation reduces a number of degrees Research, University of Lag Akoka,
of freedom and saves computer costs and Lagos, Nigeria. 1997.
it has been shown here by convergence
studies in figures 2,3 and 4 that accuracy [9] Jiki, P.N. Uncoupled Energy Functional
of the solution is well within the for Lateral Buckling Analysis of Bi-
requirement of design offices. symmetric Beams. J. of Tech.
Education, NBTE Kaduna, Nigeria,
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Nigerian Journal of Technology, Vol. 25, No. 1, March 2006 Jiki 43