Shell buckling — where it appears
A third of what the theory promised
A column with a small crookedness reaches almost its full Euler load. A cylinder with the same relative crookedness reaches a third of its classical one, and the theory is not wrong — what separates them is the slope of the path just past the critical load, which no calculation of the critical load itself can see.
The surface that carries by being curved
A flat plate spends its thickness on a lever arm of a few millimetres. Curve the same sheet and the load is carried in the surface itself, at a thirtieth of the thickness — and the entire bill is presented at the edges.
Named alongside it
The objects these essays reach for when they reach for this one.
BifurcationBoundaryBucklingCompatibilityEquilibrium pathFunicularHoop forceHorizontal thrustImperfection sensitivityKnockdown factorMembrane actionPost buckling