Summary / Abstract :

The purpose of this experiment is basically to determine the critical buckling loads for columns
with various supports in order to examine the Euler theory of buckling. Beside that, this
experiment is also carried out in order to investigate the influence of different buckling rod
mounting conditions, influence of the length and diameters and the influence of material
parameters. All the procedures are followed carefully in order to obtain the best and accurate
results. The details of the procedures are explained in the procedures section.
In this experiment, S3 Tool steel 1.2842, S8 Aluminum AlMgSiO.5F22, S9 Brass
CuZn40Pb2 and SZ5 Fieberline are used as specimens. After the experiment is carried out, the
results are then recorded. After that, the graphs of Force (N) vs. deflection for each specimen are
plotted. The graphs show that for all specimens, the force increase exponentially with deflection up
to a certain limit and then maintain constant although the deflection is increasing. From the graphs,
the maximum loads for each specimen are determined where the maximum load is the maximum
force that is applied to the specimen which becomes constant even though the defection is
increasing. This maximum load here is also called critical load. The theoretical values of the
critical load for each specimen can be calculated by using Euler formula and then these values are
then compared with the actual values from the graphs to obtain the percentage errors for each
specimen.
The buckling can be influenced by certain factor such as E Modulus or Youngs Modulus of
Elasticity, length, diameter, cross-section area, geometric moment of inertia and the type of
mounting on buckling behavior. These factors are all taken as consideration in the Euler formula.
Finally, the errors occur in this experimental results are normally because of the
malfunction of the equipment and the inconsistent reading which will be discuss later. However,
this experiment is considered successfully.

Statement of Purpose / Introduction / Objective :

The objective of the experiment are:
1. To determine the critical buckling loads for columns, with various supports.
2. To examine the Euler theory of buckling.
3. To determine the influence of different buckling rod mounting conditions, the rod length
and diameters and the material parameters.

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LOH CHUN CHEE ( ME 06579 )

Theory :
The buckling occurs when a rod is subjected to longitudinal forces and suddenly shifts to one side
before attaining the admissible compressive strain.
The buckling occurs without any warning when the certain limit of load is achieved.
Buckling is a stability problem. The critical limit load, F crit for buckling is depended on both the
slenderness of the rod which is influenced the materials used for specimen and also the length, the
diameter, the cross-sectional area, the geometric moment of inertia of the specimen and the
Youngs Modulus of the material used.
The Euler formula: Fcrit

EA
or
2

El y
lk

The Euler formula is influenced by the factors where:

E = Modulus of Elasticity or Youngs Modulus.
A = Cross-sectional area.
= Slenderness ratio.
ly = Minimum geometrical moment of inertia.
lk = characteristic length of the rod.
(EA is called the longitudinal rigidity of the rod.)
The slenderness ratio:

lk
i

The slenderness ratio is influenced by the length and the diameter where:
i = inertia radius.
lk = characteristic length of the rod.

The inertia radius:

ly
A

A = Cross-sectional area.
ly = Minimum geometrical moment of inertia.

The geometric moment of inertial:

where:

b
h

Iy

bh 3
12

where:

= Width of rod.
= Thickness of rod.

Equipment :

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LOH CHUN CHEE ( ME 06579 )

Test Specimens:
No.
S3

Materials
Tool Copper 1.2842

Diameter (mm)
20 4

Length (mm)
600

Mounting
Knife-edge/knife-edge

S8

Alu. AlMgSio.5F22

25 6

600

Knife-edge/knife-edge

S9

Brass CuZn40Pb2

25 6

600

Knife-edge/knife-edge

SZ5

Fieberline

25 10

700

Knife-edge/knife-edge

Testing Devices:
The test device WP 120 set stand equipment consists of basic frame, the guide columns and the
load cross bar as shown in Figure 1.
The basic frame contains the bottom mounting for the rod specimen, consisting of a forcemeasuring device for measuring the testing force and an attachment socket which can hold
different pressure pieces for realizing various storage conditions.
The height of the load cross bar can be adjusted along the guide columns and it can be
clamped in position which allows rod specimens with different buckling length to be examined.
The load cross bar features a load spindle for generating the test force. Using the load nut,
the test force is applied to the rod specimen via guided thrust pieces. An axial mounting between
the rod nut and the thrust piece prevents tensional stresses from being applied to the rod specimen.
There are two types of specimen holders available, they are articulated mounting type and
clamped mounting type. In this experiment, the articulated mounting type is used where the thrust
piece with V notch for knife-edge mounting is used.
The measuring gauge is fasted to a guide column with the supplied support to measure the
lateral deflection of the rod specimen. The test force is measured by using a hydraulic force
measuring device.
* See Apparatus

Apparatus :
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LOH CHUN CHEE ( ME 06579 )

Buckling Test Device

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LOH CHUN CHEE ( ME 06579 )

Procedure :
1. The test device is set in horizontal position.
2. Thrust piece with V notch is inserted into attachment socket and fasten with clamping
screw.
3. Long thrust piece with V notch is inserted into the guide bush of the load cross-bar and
then is hold firmly.
4. The rod specimen with edges is inserted in the V notch.
5. The load cross is clamped on then guide column in such a manner that there is still approx.
5 mm for the top thrust piece to move.
6. The rod specimen is aligned perpendicular in the direction of the direction of the lateral
guide.
7. The rod specimen is pretightened with low, non-measurable force.
8. The measuring gauge is aligned to the middle of the rod specimen by using the support
clamps. The gauge is set at a right angle to the direction of buckling.
9. The measuring gauge is pretightened to 10mm deflection with the adjustable support.
10. The rod specimen is subjected with load slowly by using the load nut.
11. The deflection is read from the measuring gauge by every 0.25mm up 1 mm.
12. When above 1 mm, the deflection and force are recorded for every 0.5mm.
13. The test is concluded when the force become constant despite an increasing in load.
14. The Force (N) vs. deflection (mm) graphs is plotted for each specimen.

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LOH CHUN CHEE ( ME 06579 )

Data and Observation :

Tables:
No.
1
2
3
4

Materials

Dimension
(mm)
20 4
25 6
25 6
25 10

Steel
Aluminum
Brass
Fieberline

Length
(mm)
600
600
600
700

Modulus of Elasticity,
E (N/mm2)
210 103
69.7 103
104 103
10.4 103

Table 1 : General Information For Specimens.

Deflection
(mm)
0.00
0.25
0.50
0.75
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
5.50
6.00

Steel
0
450
530
590
610
640
650
660
670
680
680
680
690
690
690

Force (N)
Aluminum
Brass
0
0
580
240
700
550
780
650
800
740
860
850
890
930
900
980
900
1010
910
1040
910
1050
925
1070
925
1090
925
1100
925
1100

Fieberline
0
280
400
450
500
550
580
600
600
610
610
625
625
625
625

Table 2 : Experimental Data For Specimens.

Graphs:
Graph 1 : Force Vs. Deflection For Steel

Page 8

Graph 2 : Force Vs. Deflection For Aluminum

Page 8

Graph 3 : Force Vs. Deflection For Brass

Page 9

Graph 4 : Force Vs. Deflection For Fieberline

Page 9

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LOH CHUN CHEE ( ME 06579 )

Analysis / Results :
Calculation for Theoretical Value:
For Steel
lk
E
b
h
Fcrit,exp

= 600 mm
= 210 103 N/mm2
= 20 mm
= 4 mm
= 690N

Moment of inertia:

Buckling Force:

Iy

Fcrit ,theo

bh 3
12

Percentage Error:

Error

20 4 3
12

El y
lk

106.6667 mm 4

210 103 106.6667

600 2
2

614.11 N

Fcrit ,theo Fcrit ,exp

Fcrit ,theo

614.11 690
614.11

100 %

100 %

12.36 %

For Aluminum
lk
E
b
h
Fcrit,exp

= 600 mm
= 69.7 103 N/mm2
= 25 mm
= 6 mm
= 925N

Moment of inertia:

Iy

Buckling Force:

Fcrit ,theo

bh 3
12

Percentage Error:

Error

25 6 3
12

El y
lk

450 mm 4

859.89 N

Fcrit ,theo Fcrit ,exp

Fcrit ,theo

69.7 10 3 450
600 2

859.89 925
859.89

100 %

100 %

7.57 %

For Brass

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LOH CHUN CHEE ( ME 06579 )

lk
E
b
h
Fcrit,exp

= 600 mm
= 104 103 N/mm2
= 25 mm
= 6 mm
= 1100N

Moment of inertia:

Buckling Force:

Iy

Fcrit ,theo

bh 3
12

Percentage Error:

Error

25 6 3
12

El y
lk

450 mm 4

104 10 3 450

600 2
2

1283.05 N

Fcrit ,theo Fcrit ,exp

100 %

Fcrit ,theo

1283.05 1100

100 %

1283.05

14.27 %

For Fieberline
lk
E
b
h
Fcrit,exp

= 700 mm
= 10.4 103 N/mm2
= 25 mm
= 10 mm
= 625N

Moment of inertia:

Iy

Buckling Force:

Fcrit ,theo

bh 3
12

Percentage Error:

Error

Materials
Steel

El y
lk

2083.33 mm 4

10.4 10 3 2083.33
700 2

436.41 N

Fcrit ,theo Fcrit ,exp

Fcrit ,theo

No.

25 10 3
12

436.41 625
436.41

Critical Buckling Loads

( Theoretical ) (N)
614.11

100 %

100 %

43.21 %

Critical Buckling Loads

( Experimental ) (N)
690

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Errors
(%)
12.36

LOH CHUN CHEE ( ME 06579 )

Aluminum

859.89

925

7.57

Brass

1283.05

1100

14.27

Fieberline

436.41

625

43.21

Table 3 : Theoretical values, Experimental values and Errors for each materials.

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Graph 1 : Force Vs. Deflection For Steel

Graph 2 : Force Vs. Deflection For Aluminum

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LOH CHUN CHEE ( ME 06579 )

Graph 3 : Force Vs. Deflection For Brass

Graph 4 : Force Vs. Deflection For Fieberline

Discussion :
After the experiment, it can be said that the main objective has been achieved. The critical
buckling loads for different materials were determined, Euler theory of buckling was examined and
the influence of different buckling rod mounting conditions, the rod length and diameters and the
material parameters were determined.
The Experimental Critical Buckling Load, Fcrit,exp for each specimen was compared to the
Theoretical Critical Buckling Load, Fcrit,exp and the errors for each specimen were gained. Basically
the error for Tool Steel 1.2842, Aluminum AlMgSio.5F22 and Brass CuZn40Pb2 were found less
than 15% but only the error for Fieberline was about is bigger (43.21%). However, this experiment
can be considered successful since most of the results were accurate.

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LOH CHUN CHEE ( ME 06579 )

From the Data and Observation section, when the axial force is applied to the specimens,
both material start to deflect in the lateral direction even through with different deflection tares. As
given by Eulers Equation formula as shown in the Theory section, the difference rates are mainly
due to the difference in Modulus of Elasticity for each specimen. Apart from that, Moment of
Inertia and length, do also contribute to different deflection. The Critical Buckling Load is directly
proportional to the Modulus of Elasticity and Moment of Inertia but inversely proportional to the
specimens length.
Although the result was quite accurate to the theoretical value but there were still some
error between them especially the Fieberline. The factors that caused this error are:

The dial gauge deflects greatly with the slightest application of force, and the exact
deflection was difficult to be obtained.

The touching part of the dial gauge might not be fixed perpendicularly to the specimen.

The test specimen may have subjected to high loading cycle as they are repeated used.

Parallax error might exist due to the human error when readings were being taken.

Conclusion :
As a conclusion, the experiment was carried out successfully since all the objectives were
achieved. The percentage errors for most specimens were below 15% and this showed that the
results of the experiment were accurate. There relationship between the Critical Buckling Load,
Moment of Inertia, Modulus of elasticity and the specimen length was shown from the experiment.
The Euler equation was also proven to determine the Critical Buckling Load.

References:

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LOH CHUN CHEE ( ME 06579 )

1. Ferdinand P. Beer, E. Russell Johnston. JR., Mechanical of Materials, Second Edition,

McGraw Hill Inc., New York, 1989, pages 206 - 208.
2. Wiliam D. Callister, Mechanical Science and Engineering An Introduction, John Wiley & Sons
Inc., Canada, 1997, Page 123 145.
3. Philip F. Ostwald and Jairo Munoz, Manufacturing Processes and Systems, John Wiley & Sons
Inc., United States of America, 1997, Page 203 245.

Appendix :

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LOH CHUN CHEE ( ME 06579 )