Buckling — Lesson 3

Buckling is a form of instability that occurs when the potential energy (or strain energy) accumulates in a portion of an object and is suddenly converted to kinetic energy, resulting in rapid deformation.

This is usually a concern in tall, hollow structures such as offshore towers, grain silos and pressurized vessels.

In this lesson, we'll discuss in detail what buckling is and how to identify the buckling limits of different structures.

Lecture

Alternate video link.

Handout

Here are the accompanying handout slides for this lesson.