Collected Works of H. S. Tsien (1938-1956)

The Influence of Curvature on the Buckling Characteristics of Structures

Th. von Kármán, Louis G. Dunn and Hsue-shen Tsien

(California Institute of Technology)

In the field of applied elasticity, one of the most perplexing problems is the prediction of the buckling load, or rather the failing load of a thin-walled structure with either simple or double curvature. Everyone who has contact with this subject will notice the gap between theory and experimental results. The designer, however, has to proceed with his work regardless of whether or not the theory of elasticity can give him the correction solution of his problem. Hence, in this case he has to resort to empirical relations determined by experimental methods. But such an empirical approach ...