A Note on the Buckling of Struts

Summary

Invariably the texts in elasticity and strength of materials derive the stability criteria for struts by first setting up the beam bending moment equation. Together with suitable boundary conditions this equation is then solved as an eigenvalue problem for non-zero solutions. It is indicated here that in general this procedure is too limited, both physically and mathematically, and that in some cases the correct approach yields additional results which normally would not become evident by employing the classical method.