Neutral Answers from Structural Engineer
Hi again gang,
Here are answers I got on the SE site right after my questions:
1) My limited understanding was that column buckling and column breakage were two different things...They are.
If a building is collapsing and the support columns are "buckling," can that term apply to columns that are breaking at the welded connections and/or bolts breaking...No!
or does buckling specifically refer only to a column that is bending at something like a right angle until it loses most of its strength?...buckling refers to a column which has reached a critical load (Euler's formula) and becomes unstable.
2) From the point of view of loss of strength, does a badly bent column have much more resistance than a column that has snapped apart at its welded connections? Does a completely bent column have less than 5% of its initial strength? Less than 2%?...A column which has buckled is not badly bent. If load is removed, it will regain its initial shape and strength. If load is not removed, it will collapse. During collapse, it will probably become badly bent.
3) I'm somewhat familiar with Euler's theorem and am aware that this is a purely mathematical construct...no, it is not. It is accurate for slender columns within the elastic range.
In the real world, if a column is suffering from major stresses during a building collapse, is it likely that it would "buckle" by bending in half, or would it be much more likely to snap apart at the welded connections or other weaker spots? Depends what is causing the building collapse. If a column is buckling, that would trigger a partial or complete building collapse.
4) Is this a good working definition of "buckling"? The term buckle refers to the instant in time that the column assembly goes unstable...that is a pretty good definition.
It doesn't pretend to define the other 99% of the process, of how each piece comes apart...99% of what process, the collapse process? No, it does not deal with anything beyond the buckling process
Most of the time, buckles are studied as "3 point hinges",one weak point at the top of the failure, one at the bottom and one someplace between those two...Not true. A column can buckle with no hinges present.
(The middle hinge point is frequently shown half-way between the other two, but this is far from a rule.)...very far from a rule.
When a multisegment column assembly buckles, the hinge points form at weak points in the assemblies, which are again at the connections...Not necessarily true.
Thank you in advance,
Chris Mohr You're welcome.
These responses need more clarification for me to understand it better. Any thoughts?