Design Solutions for Slender Bars with Variable Cross-Sections to Increase the Critical Buckling Force

In large metal civil constructions (stadium roofs, bridges), slender bars can lose their stability under compression loading. There is a lack in the literature regarding design solutions and methods for increasing the critical buckling force of bars with variable cross-sections. The aim of this research is to present a numerical model with finite elements used for a comparative analysis of increasing the critical force of stability loss in cases of (i) bars with stepwise variation in the cross-sections and (ii) bars with continuous variation in the moment of inertia along the bar axis (parabolic, sinusoidal, triangular, and trapezoidal variation). Considering the large-scale applications in civil engineering, bars that were pin-connected at one end and simple-supported at the other end were analyzed. Firstly, the analytical model was described to compute the critical buckling force for bars with stepwise variation in the cross-sections. Then, a finite element model for a slender bar and the assumptions considered were presented. The results were computed using the MATLAB program based on the numerical model proposed and were validated with the analytical model for stepwise variable cross-sections of the bars. The numerical model was adapted for bars with continuous variation in the moment of inertia along the bar axis. It was shown that, by trapezoidal variation in the second moment of inertia along the axis of a bar, i.e., as buckling occurred in the elastic field, the critical buckling force could be increased by 3.556 times compared to a bar with a constant section. It was shown that there was certain bar with stepwise variation in the cross-section for which the critical buckling force was approximately equal to the one obtained for the bar with sinusoidal variation in the moment of inertia (increased by 3.427 times compared to a bar with a constant section).