Applied Structural Integrity case study 3 1

Buckling load analysis of stainless steel beam

Venkata Srinivas Rao Cherukuri
Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Technology, Staffordshire University.

Abstract: This report shows the evaluation of buckling load for a stainless steel beam
by buckling load tester(experimental), computational FEA simulation(through Ansys
V12), theoretically(Eulers method) when an axial load is applied on the beam, and
comparison of results from the three methods. The resulting buckling loads from the
tests were 925N, 1075N,1118.96N this shows that both the results varies with which
occurs due to movement and more tolerances at hinges in experiment, and another
reason is the experiment is done on a stainless steel beam with unknown composition.

INTRODUCTION
Any structure which undergo visibly
large displacements transverse to applied
compressive load it is said to be buckle.
Buckling may occur in different ways in
which it is stable where the displacements
increased in a controlled way with respect to
load increments and it is unstable when
deformations increase at once for applied load
and the structure fails
catastrophically.(wang,2005)
Here the buckling load is calculated by
experiment on a buckling load tester,
theoretically using Eulers method and and by
simulation through Ansys V12.
EXPERIMENT
For calculating the buckling load of
stainless steel rod of circualar cross section
the test was performed on it using a buckling
load tester shown in fig.1 in F12 laboratory in
Staffordshire University by using supporting
apparatus strain guage meter ,Transducer and
Micrometer.
The stainless steel beam is positioned in
between two hinges(bearings) and force is
applied on one hinge manually by gradual
increments of loads by observing them on
strain gauge meter..

.
Figure 1 – Buckling load tester equipment
 Applied Structural Integrity case study 3 1

4
voltage (v)

3
Series1

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Force or Load (N)

Graph 1 – curve showing variation of voltage with respect to force

The transducer captures the displacements of
the steel beam and shows it on micrometer as
voltage. The core is a small element placed
vertically with one end standing on a the steel
rod and the other end is in the transducer,
allowing to capture the deflection.
beyond the structural strength of the rod, a
fraction of initially applied causes a lot of
deflection in the rod. So 263N load is taken
for calculating buckling load
Buckling load = Force X 3.5

A graph is plotted between the all the = 263 X 3.5 = 920.5N

incremental forces applied and resultant
voltages as shown in the graph.1
In the graph 1 from the experiment it was
observed that when the force is applied on the
rod the strength of the rod opposes the
deflection or deformation of the rod till 253N.
So from initial 56N to 253 there were a
minute deflection is observed, from 253 to
263 more deflection is observed compared to
earlier. From 263Na drastic change in
deflection and a sudden fall of graph is
observed. So when the applied force is
The buckling load from experiment is
920.5N.
ANSYS SIMULATION
Here pre stress analysis is done in static
structural and it is linked to linear buckling
So first this method startswith static
structural Ansys, stainless steel is selected in
the engineering data and the model of the
beam is drawn with the dimensions shown in
table 1 in geometry.
 Applied structural integrity case study 3 Cherukuri 3

Table 1 - Number of participants A force of 1 N is a applied on both ends

of the beam with forces acting inwards of
Sl.no type Dimension the beam in z direction in global coordinate
1 Diameter 6mm system. The applied loads and displacements
2 Length 335mm were shown in the fig 3.

The total deformation observed in the static

A new cylindrical coordinate system is created
as shown in fig 2 such that allowing the bending
structural ansys is shown if fig 4.
in y-axis. As the force is applied the beam stars
starts to bend and it is not possible to measure the
deflection in that direction. So displacements were
given in global coordinate system.

Figure 4- total deformation in static structural

Figure 2 – cylindrical and global coordinate

systems. Now this static structural data is linked
with linear buckling as shown in the fig.5
The motion of the steel beam is
constrained in z direction in cylindrical
coordinate system and left free in X and y
directions as there is a compressive
movement in x- direction and a bending
movement in y- direction.

Figure 5- Linking static to linear buckling

In linear buckling analysis settings were

changed to five modes to see the mode
shapes and for calculating the load multiplier
for 6 modes. Total deformations were given
in solution. The total deformations at the each
mode Shows the mode shape and load
multiplier of the rod.

Figure 3 - applying forces and displacement

 Applied Structural Integrity case study 3
. The load multiplier observed in the first
mode of total deformation is 0.24282, it is
very low and also negligible; this mode shape
is shown in fig.6
Figure 6- first mode shape of steel beam
In fig.6 there are no notable structural
changes due to the applied force. A load
which does not causes compressive forces in
the beam can not used for calculation of
buckling load.
The total deformation at second mode is
shown in the fig.7, here it is observed that the
mode shape comparatively similar to mode
shape occurred in the experiment.
Figure 7- Second mode shape of steel rod
The load multiplier observed at this mode is
1075.6 .
Buckling load=force applied X load multiplier
=1N X 1075.6
= 1075.6N
The buckling load of the stainless steel rod is
1075.6N
1
from the fig.7 it was observed that the
structure will fail at the middle portion if the
applied load is beyond. This is the first and
critical buckling load. This mode shape is
obtained by slowly applying the load.
The third mode is shown in fig 8, this mode
shape is obtained similar to second mode
Figure 8- Third mode shape of steel beam
This third mode also has the load multiplier
value nearer value to second mode ie.,1077.2
The fourth mode shape is obtained by the
sudden impact of load and the mode shape is
shown in fig 9. The load multiplier for it is
4299.7
Figure 9- Fourth mode shape of steel rod
The fifth mode shape is as shown in fig.10
this mode shape is similar to that of fourth
mode shape. This mode shape is also obtained
by the sudden impact of load. The load
multiplier is 4299.7
 Applied structural integrity case study 3 Cherukuri 5

Buckling load Fc = ( E I n2 π2 ) / ( L2 )
{from Euler’s equation}(wang,2005)

For cylindrical rod I= ( π d4 ) / 64

d= diameter of the cylindrical rod

In present case study

L= 335mm = 0.335m

Figure 10- Fifth mode shape of steel rod n= 1 first buckling load

E= 200 MPa

THEORETICAL ANALYSIS d= 0.006m

The steel rod is positioned between the hinged Therefore I = 6.361725 X 10-11
bearings, and force is applied from one side as
shown in fig 11. By substituting all the above values in eulers
formula

F Fc = (6.361725X10-11)(200 X 109)(1) (π2)

F
(0.3352)

= 1118.96117 N
Figure 11 –representation of experiment

To the given force a reaction force is

The critical buckling load calculated from the
generated from the opposite direction
eulers equation is 1118.96117N
allowing the steel rod to compress as shown
in the fig 12.
y Changing the ‘n’ value gives the different
Fc Fc mode shapes at specified loads.
F

Assumptions of mode shpes for different for

different n values
Figure 12 – forces acting on steel beam
at n=1 fig.13 will be produced , it occurs
If the applied load is small, due to when a load is applied slowly.
compressive force the rod slightly deflects critical load F=1118.96N
and move back to original position like a
spring after the removal of force. If that
applied force is large, due to more
compressive force the rod will deform
perminantly or it may break. Now a load
which acts as boundary between above two
cases exactly point at which the structure Figure 13- deformation at mode 1
starts to fail is a buckling load (wang,2005)
 Applied structural integrity case study 3 Cherukuri 6

At n=2 fig.14 will be produced when the load 19 211 5.3

is applied suddenly , and higher loads .critical 20 218 5.29
load F=4475.84 21 224 5.28
22 227 5.28
23 233 5.27
24 235 5.26
25 237 5.25
26 241 5.25
Figure 14- deformation at mode 2 27 245 5.19
28 253 5.1
At n=3 fig.15 will be observed , this mode
29 263 5
shpe is also produced with sudden impact of
load and high loads. Critical load F=10070.64 30 271 4.64
31 276 4.46
32 277 4.37
33 279 4.29
34 280 4.11
Figure 15- deformation at mode 3 35 281 3.98
36 284 3.84
37 285 3.74
38 286 3.32
39 290 3.07
RESULTS AND COMPARISONS
Table 2 - voltage obtained w.r.to to force Table 2 shows the experimental results
and the buckling load is calculated at
Experimental Results 263N.
Sl.no Force (N) voltage (v) The resultant buckling load for
1 56 5.36 stainless steel rod is 920.5N
2 71 5.35
3 86 5.35
In ansys total deformation and load
4 94 5.35 multiplier varies with mesh refinement.
5 101 5.35 The table 3 shows the deformation per
6 113 5.35 number of elements
7 119 5.34
8 131 5.34 Table 3-Total deformation for elements
9 145 5.34
total
10 151 5.33
sl. Number of deformati load multiplier
11 156 5.33 no elements on at mode 2
12 164 5.33
1 1430 1.0002 1075.8
13 178 5.33
2 1120 1.0002 1076.5
14 183 5.32
3 650 1.0002 1075.6
15 195 5.32 4 536 1.0001 1070.8
16 200 5.31 5 429 1.0001 1068
17 205 5.3
6 250 1.0001 1042.2
18 209 5.3 7 38 1.0001 1146.7
 Applied structural integrity case study 3 Cherukuri 7

So 650 elements is selected for doing analysis composition The values in the table 5
shows the variations in compositions.
Table 4-load multiplier at different modes
Table 6- variation of properties
FEA simulation Results
Sl.no mode load multiplier sl. general Ansys
1 1 0.24282 no property limits simulation
0.190 -
2 2 1075.6
1 Density 9.01 g/cc 7.850 g/cc
3 3 1077.2 Critical 799 - 863
4 4 4299.7 2 Temperature °C
5 5 4305.8 Tensile
Strength, 85.0 -
3 Ultimate 3000 Mpa 460 Mpa
Modulus of 68.9 - 317
From table 4 the second mode shape 4 Elasticity Gpa 200 Gpa
occurs due to critical load. So it is 0.220 -
calculated with the obtained load 5 Poissons Ratio 0.346 0.3
multiplier. The buckling load is
1075.6N. remaining mode shapes
(http://www.matweb.com/search/DataSheet.as
occur due to sudden impact of heavy
px?MatGUID=71396e57ff5940b791ece120e4
loads.
d563e0&ckck=1)
Table 5-Final results from all the methods

final Results  The table 6 shows the the general

practical Ansys V12 Euler’s method
limits of properties of stainless steel
available in market and properties of
920.5 1075.6 1118.96
steel used for calculating buckling
load in simulation. Same Modulus of
The results obtained by all the three methods elasticity value of 200Gpa is used for
were shown in table 5. It is observed from the both simulation and theoretical
results that there is a variation between all the calculation so those results were
three methods. The results from simulation closer.
and theoretical were a little closer to each
other compared with experimental method.
This was caused due to
CONCLUSION
 manual some manual errors during
experiment Buckling load of a stainless steel bar is found
 more tolerances are present at the through experimentally, theoretically and
bearing where the steel rod is placed . through simulation.
this causes come movement in z
On comparison these results show some
direction misleading the results.
variation due to unknown composition of
 Different types of stainless steels were
stainless steel
available in the market, nearly 40
types. The experiment is done on
stainless steel of unknown
 Applied structural integrity case study 3 Cherukuri 8

NOMENCLATURE
Fc = Load of Force

E = Youngs modulus

n = Any integer

L = Effective length

I = Area moment of inertia

D = Diameter of the cylindrical rod

REFERNCES

[1] Material properties of stainless steel

(http://www.matweb.com/search/DataSheet.as
px?MatGUID=71396e57ff5940b791ece120e4
d563e0&ckck=1)

[2] C. M. WANG, CHANG YI WANG, J.N.

REDDY.2005, Exact solutions for buckling of
structural members,Usa :CNC PRESS