The Effect of Multiple Buckling Modes on the Postbuckling Behavior of Plane Elastic Frames. Part I. Symmetric Frames

The postbuckling behavior of a one-bay, two-storey frame with built-in edges and symmetric with respect to midspan is analyzed. Columns are assumed to be inextensible and shear-undeformable, and beams are rigid. Then two buckling modes are possible, that is, sidesway of the lower floor with rigid horizontal displacement of the top floor and sidesway of the top floor with the lower floor undergoing no displacement. Obviously, the two buckling modes occur simultaneously if the ratios EI/h7 (EI being the bending stiffness of a column and h its length) are properly selected. Within the framework of a Koiter-type energy approach a suitable perturbation formulation is derived from a “hybrid” functional which is obtained by adding to the potential energy certain extra terms which account for the nonlinear energy associated with the internal forces applied to the beam at the joints. Results show that the postbuckling behavior of a single buckling mode can be stable or unstable according to the value of t...