Buckling

Buckling is a structural instability in which compression causes a member to deflect laterally, often suddenly and at a critical load. The resulting deformation can occur before the material itself crushes.

Euler buckling: An idealized model of elastic buckling in a slender column under axial compression. Its critical-load formula is the classic starting point for predicting when a column buckles.
Structural stability: The ability of a structure to maintain equilibrium under applied loads and disturbances. Buckling is a loss of structural stability rather than simply a material failure.
Column: A structural member designed primarily to carry loads along its length, commonly in compression. Columns are the canonical members checked for buckling under compressive loads.
Crushing: Failure caused by compressive stress exceeding a material's capacity, producing severe deformation or fracture. A short stocky member may crush, whereas a slender one can buckle before reaching crushing stress.
Critical load: The load at which a structure reaches a limit state or undergoes a major change in response. Buckling begins when compressive loading reaches the structure's stability threshold.
Elasticity: The property of a material that allows it to recover its shape after deformation. Elastic stiffness helps determine the load at which slender members buckle.
Local buckling: Buckling confined to a portion of a structural member's cross-section or surface. Thin flanges and webs can buckle locally even while the whole member remains straight.
Yielding: The onset of permanent deformation when stress exceeds a material's yield strength. Buckling is a stability loss; yielding is a material response, though both can interact.
Boundary conditions: Constraints specifying how a system behaves at its edges or supports. End restraints change a column's effective length and therefore its buckling load.
Axial load: A force applied along the longitudinal axis of a structural member. Axial compression is the loading condition that drives classical column buckling.

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