Presented by: Arthur Almeida, Meghan Cottam, Andy Johnson, Josue Rodriguez

The critical load is the maximum compressive

load that can be applied to a column or rod,
before it buckles. Columns are essential for
large structures, so it is important to know the
effect the thickness and length have on the
critical load. In our experiment we will buckle
several copper-coated steel specimens with
different slenderness ratios, to see how
accurately they follow the Euler and Parabolic
curves.

November 5, 2015

The objective of our experiment is to

show how the slenderness ratio of a
rod affects the critical load, and how
our data compares to the expected
Euler and parabolic curve.
In our experiment we took several
1/8 diameter specimens of different
lengths, and found their critical load.
Then we plotted the unit load vs the
slenderness ratio to compare the
values of our graph to those of the
Euler and Parabolic curves.

November 5, 2015

A pinned pinned
rod in compression.

The slenderness ratio is the ratio of

the length of the column or rod and
the radius of gyration of its cross
section.

Where

L = Length of Specimen
k = Radius of Gyration
I = Moment of Inertia
A = Cross Sectional Area

November 5, 2015

The critical load of a column is

analyzed through two curves. The first
is the Euler curve, and the second is
the Parabolic curve. Once the
slenderness ratio is less than

the

unit load no longer follows the Euler

curve, but rather the Parabolic curve.
We expect the longer rods (higher
slenderness ratio) to follow the Euler
curve, and the shorter rods to follow
the Parabolic curve.

November 5, 2015

The point where the Unit load

follows the Parabolic curve
rather than the Euler curve is
found through the following
equation:

November 5, 2015

2 2

 2
=

2 1
with
2

Where:
Pcr = Critical Load.
A = Cross Sectional Area
E = Modulus of Elasticity
L = Length of the Rod
k = Radius of Gyration
C = End Condition
Sy = Yield Strength
November 5, 2015

To achieve more accurate results,

we found the yield strength and
modulus of elasticity by yielding a
specimen of our rod in tension
using the Instron machine.

November 5, 2015

Sy = 97.7 ksi
E = 30.2 Msi

Cut the Rod

The 1/8 diameter rod

was cut into 11 different
lengths ranging from
0.5 to 10

November 5, 2015

Round Ends
of
Specimens

All the ends were then

rounded with a grinder
to create a rounded
rounded situation, and
to avoid bending in the
rod.

Buckle
Specimens

The rods were then

buckled by the Instron
machine one by one
and the critical load
was recorded.

November 5, 2015

Lengths (in)
Pcr (lbf)
10.0
46.2
8.88
59.6
7.91
70.9
6.97
92.9
5.98
108
4.94
153
3.81
248
2.92
542
1.94
793
1.00
1137
0.563
1290

November 5, 2015

After finding the critical load of each

specimen, we graphed the Unit Load

vs the slenderness ratio and

compared the results with the expected
Euler and Parabolic curve.

Thousands

140

120

Unit Load (Pr/A)

100
97.5

80

Parabolic Curve
Euler's Curve

60

Test 1
Test 2

40

20

0
0

50

78.1 100

150

200

250

Slenderness Ratio (L/k)

November 5, 2015

300

350

400

 The ends were rounded by hand, so

inexact rounding may have caused
concentric loading.
We used more than 3 different rods
of same material, but only tested the
yield strength and modulus of
elasticity of one.

November 5, 2015

The data for the specimens with a slenderness ratio greater than

showed to lie exactly on, or very close to, the Euler curve. When the

slenderness ratio was less than the data points started following

the parabolic curve instead.

We were limited, due to the equipment, so the smallest sample we
could test was 0.5 inches.
Ran multiple tests for the specimen lengths we assumed problematic
readings from our first test.

November 5, 2015

November 5, 2015

2014 My Company. All Rights Reserved

November 5, 2015