Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2016
In a recent study of the buckling of pin-ended struts of a certain light-alloy material the author found it necessary to use ball-end fittings which supported rigidly an appreciable length of the strut. For some of the struts—having slenderness ratios of the order of 20—the unsupported length was only about a quarter of the overall length between pinned-ends, (Fig. 1). The effect of rigid end-fittings can easily be taken into account in calculating the elastic buckling load of this system. The author expected to find this end effect important for shorter struts; however, this is not the case. In fact, buckling of the strut is governed largely by the flexibility of the unsupported length, and even large end fittings may not affect appreciably the buckling load.