ELASTIC FLEXURALTORSIONAL BUCKLING OF FIXED

ARCHES
by YONG-LIN PI and MARK ANDREW BRADFORD
(School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney,
NSW 2052, Australia)
[Received 6 May 2003. Revise 22 June 2004]

This paper is concerned with the elastic flexuraltorsional buckling of laterally fixed circular
arches that are subjected to uniform axial compression, and to uniform bending. The finite
strains and the energy equation for the flexuraltorsional buckling of arches have been derived
based on an accurate orthogonal rotation matrix. Closed form solutions for the elastic flexural
torsional buckling resistance of laterally fixed arches in uniform compression and in uniform
bending have been obtained, which are quite different from those of pin-ended and simply
supported arches. The results demonstrate that the routine effective length approach, which is
often useful for determining the buckling response of straight members, is not suitable for the
elastic flexuraltorsional buckling response of fixed arches.

1. Introduction
Arches that are loaded in-plane may suddenly displace laterally and twist out of their plane of
loading and fail in a flexuraltorsional buckling mode as shown in Fig. 1. The elastic flexural
torsional buckling loads of arches that are subjected to uniform axial compression and to uniform
bending play an important role in the investigation of the mechanics of the buckling response of
arches under general loading. They are also often used as the reference load (or moment) in the
design of steel arches (1 to 3). This paper is concerned with the elastic flexuraltorsional buckling
of laterally fixed circular arches with a doubly symmetric cross-section that are subjected to uniform
compression and to uniform bending.
Elastic flexuraltorsional buckling of arches that are subjected to uniform compression or to
uniform bending has been investigated by a number of researchers (4 to 14). Closed form solutions
for the elastic flexuraltorsional buckling load of pin-ended arches in uniform compression and
for the elastic flexuraltorsional buckling moment of simply supported arches in uniform bending
have been obtained (5,8,10 to 12); however, the elastic flexuraltorsional buckling of laterally fixed
arches that are subjected to uniform compression and to uniform bending does not appear to have
been reported. It might be thought that the solutions for the elastic flexuraltorsional buckling load
of pin-ended arches in uniform compression and for the elastic flexuraltorsional buckling moment
of simply supported arches in uniform bending can be extended routinely to fixed arches by using
the effective length concept (15). The method that adopts the effective length approach has been
used in the elastic buckling analysis of columns and beams (4, 5, 15). For example, the closed form
solution for the flexural buckling load N y of a column about its minor principal axis is given by
N y = 2 E I y /2 ,
c Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved.
Q. Jl Mech. Appl. Math. (2004) 57 (4), 551569

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Summary

552

Y.- L . PI AND M . A . BRADFORD

where E is Youngs modulus, I y is the second moment of area of the cross-section, and  is the
effective length of the column, related to the actual length S of the column by  = k S in which k is
the effective length factor and whose value depends on the end support conditions. For a laterally
pin-ended column, it is well known that k = 1 and  = S; for laterally fixed column, k = 05
and  = S/2. Thus, the first mode flexural buckling load of a laterally fixed column in uniform
compression is equal to the second mode flexural buckling load of a laterally pin-end column in
uniform compression. This method can also be used for the elastic flexuraltorsional buckling of
beams, for which the first mode flexuraltorsional buckling moment of a laterally fixed beam in
uniform bending is equal to the second mode flexural buckling moment of a laterally pin-ended
beam in uniform bending. However, because the lateral deformations primarily couple with the
twist rotational deformations during the flexuraltorsional buckling of arches, the method of using
the concept of an effective length may be unsuitable for the elastic flexuraltorsional buckling of
arches.
An analysis of the cross-section of an arch has usually been undertaken in order to derive the
strains for determining its flexuraltorsional buckling response (6, 8 to 10). Most of these types of
analysis can be considered to be equivalent to using a rotation matrix R that does not satisfy the
desired proper orthogonality conditions that RRT = RT R = I and that det R = +1 in the strain
derivations, and so some terms in the strains that are significant for modelling the flexuraltorsional
buckling of arches may be lost. Therefore, an accurate rotation matrix that satisfies the orthogonality
conditions needs to be sought for the strain derivations that are to be used in the buckling analysis,
in order to model properly the mechanics of the buckling response.

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Fig. 1 Geometry and loading. (a) Arch in uniform compression; (b) arch in uniform bending; (c)
flexuraltorsional buckling; (d) lateral restraints (plan)

BUCKLING OF FIXED ARCHES

553

The purpose of this paper is to investigate analytically the elastic flexuraltorsional buckling of
laterally fixed circular arches with a doubly symmetric open thin-walled cross-section using an
energy approach that is based on an accurate rotation matrix, and to obtain the analytical solutions
for the elastic flexuraltorsional buckling load of fixed arches in uniform compression and for the
elastic flexuraltorsional buckling moment of laterally fixed arches in uniform bending.
2. Rotation and curvatures
In general, the centroidal axis os of a circular arch has an initial curvature x0 about the major
principal axis ox (that is, in the direction of the minor principal axis oy of the cross-section) as
shown in Fig. 1. To describe the deformation of the arch, a body-attached curvilinear orthogonal
axis system ox ys is defined as follows. The axis os passes through the locus of the centroids of the
cross-section of the undeformed arch and the axes ox and oy coincide with the principal axes of the
cross-section, as shown in Figs 1 and 2. After the deformation, the origin o displaces u, v, w to o
and the cross-sections (that are assumed to remain rigid in their plane and so do not distort) rotate
through an angle , and so the body attached curvilinear orthogonal axis system ox ys moves and
rotates to a new position o x y s as shown in Fig. 2.
A unit vector ps in the tangent direction of os, and unit vectors px and p y in the direction of ox
and oy form a right-handed orthonormal basis as shown in Fig. 2. The unit vectors px , p y , ps are
used as the fixed reference basis. They do not change with the deformation, but their directions
change from point to point along the arch axis os. In the deformed configuration, a unit vector qs is
defined along the tangent direction of the axis o s of the axis system o x y s , and unit vectors qx
and q y are defined along the principal axes o x , o y of the rotated cross-section at o as shown

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Fig. 2 Axes system, basis and position vectors

554

Y.- L . PI AND M . A . BRADFORD

in Fig. 2. The unit vectors qx , q y , qs also form an orthonormal basis. They attach to the arch and
move with the arch during the deformation with the vector qs being normal to the cross-section at
all times.
The rotation matrix that describes the rotation from the basis vectors px , p y , ps in the undeformed
configuration to the basis vectors qx , q y , qs in the deformed configuration can be obtained in matrix
form as (see the Appendix)
[qx , q y , qs ] = [px , p y , ps ]R,

(2.1)

where the rotation matrix R is given by

Rx x
R = R yx
Rsx

Rx y
R yy
Rsy

Rxs
R ys
Rss

(2.2)

with
Rx x = (1 u  )C u  v  S,
2

Rx y = (1 u  )S u  v  C,

2

2

R yx = (1 v )S u  v  C, R yy = (1 v )C + u  v  S,
Rsx = u  C v  S, Rsy = u  S v  C, Rss = w  ,

Rxs = u  ,
R ys = v  ,

(2.3)
(2.4)
(2.5)







where C cos , S sin , u  = u  /(1+),
 v = v /(1+), w = (1+ w )/(1+), v = v wx0 ,



w = w  + vx0 , ( ) d( )/ds, (1 + ) = (u  )2 + (v )2 + (1 + w )2 ,  is the longitudinal normal
strain at the centroid and = 1/(1 + w  ).
The rotation matrix R in (2.2) belongs to a special orthogonal rotation group denoted by S O(3)
because it satisfies the proper orthogonality and unimodular conditions (16)

RRT = RT R = I

and

det R = +1.

(2.6)

For S O(3), the curvatures and strains are invariant during rigid-body rotations.
A fixed (space) right-handed rectangular coordinate system O X Y Z is defined in space as shown
also in Fig. 2. The position of the undeformed and deformed arch can be defined in the axis
system O X Y Z . Unit vectors P X , PY , P Z in directions O X , OY and O Z also form a right-handed
orthonormal basis.
In the undeformed configuration, the position vector of the centroid o in the fixed axes O X Y Z is
r0 (Fig. 2), and so the unit vector ps tangential to the centroidal axis os can be expressed in terms
of the position vector r0 as
ps = dr0 /ds.

(2.7)

The FrenetSerret formulae in terms of basis vectors px , p y , ps in the undeformed configuration

can then be written as
dpi
= K0 pi
ds

(i = x, y, s),

(2.8)

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555

BUCKLING OF FIXED ARCHES

(a)

(b)
x
y

s
y

(c)

Mx

Mx

Mx

Fig. 3 Curvature and bending moment conventions. (a) Positive initial curvature; (b) negative initial
curvature; (c) positive bending; (d) negative bending

where K0 is the skew-symmetric matrix for the initial curvature x0 and is given by

0 0
0
K0 = 0 0 x0
0 x0
0

(2.9)

and the positive and negative curvatures are defined as shown in Fig. 3.
In the deformed configuration, the position vector of the centroid o in the fixed axis system
O X Y Z is r as shown in Fig. 2, and so the vector qs tangential to the deformed centroidal axis o s
can be expressed in terms of the position vector r of the centroid o as
qs =

dr
1 dr
=
,

ds
1 +  ds

(2.10)

where the relationship ds = (1 + )ds is used. Because the differentiation of the position vector
is taken with respect to the deformed length s , qs is a unit vector.
The position vector r of the centroid o can be expressed as (Fig. 2)
r = r0 + upx + vp y + wps .

(2.11)

Substituting (2.11) into (2.10) and considering (2.7) produces

qs =

1
1 dr
=
[u  px + v  p y + (1 + w  )ps ] = u  px + v  p y + w  ps .
1 +  ds
1+

(2.12)

In the deformed configuration, according to the FrenetSerret formulae, the relationship between
the derivatives of the basis vectors and the curvatures and twist can be written as
dqi
1 dqi
=
(2.13)
, = Kqi (i = x, y, s),

ds
1 +  ds

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Mx

(d)

556

Y.- L . PI AND M . A . BRADFORD

where the matrix K for the curvatures and twist in the deformed configuration is given by

0
s y
0
x
K = s
y x
0

(2.14)

and substituting (2.8) and (2.13) into (2.15) and considering ds = (1 + )ds leads to the curvatures
in the deformed configuration as
(1 + )K = RT

dR
+ RT K0 R.
ds

(2.16)

Substituting (2.2) and (2.9) into (2.16) leads to the curvatures x and y and the twist s in the
deformed configuration expressed as
x = {u  S v  C w  (u  S v  C) + [(1 u  w  )C u  v  S + w  C]x0 }/(1 + ),
2

y = {u  C + v  S w  (u  C + v  S) [(1 u  w  )S + u  v  C + w  S]x0 }/(1 + ),

s = [  + (u  v  u  v  ) + u  x0 ]/(1 + ),
2

where S sin and C cos .

3. Position vectors and strains
The position vector a0 of an arbitrary point P(x, y) on the cross-section of the arch in the
undeformed configuration can be expressed as (Fig. 2)
a0 = r0 + xpx + yp y ,

(3.1)

where x and y are the coordinates of the point P in the principal axes ox and oy (Fig. 1(c)).
The position of the point P(x, y) in the deformed configuration is determined based on the
following two assumptions. First, the cross-sectional plane remains both plane and perpendicular
to the member axis during the deformation (the EulerBernoulli hypothesis). Secondly, the total
deformation of the point P results from two successive motions: translation and finite rotation
of the cross-section, and a superimposed warping displacement along the unit vector qs in the
deformed configuration. Under these two assumptions, the position vector a of the point P1 , which
is the position of the point P after the deformation, can be expressed in terms of the basis vectors
qx , q y , qs as (Fig. 2)
a = r + xqx + yq y (x, y)s qs
in which (x, y) is the normalized section warping function.

(3.2)

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in which x and y are the curvatures about the unit vectors qx and q y (that is, about o x and o y ),
respectively, and s is the twist about the unit vector qs (that is, about o s ) after the deformation.
Differentiating (2.1) with respect to s yields




dR

dqx dq y dqs
dpx dp y dps
= px p y ps
+
R
(2.15)
ds ds ds
ds
ds ds ds

BUCKLING OF FIXED ARCHES

557

The warping function (x, y) in (3.2) can be obtained by considering the Saint-Venant uniform
torsion problem for a prismatic bar, which results in the Laplace equation
2 =

2 2
+ 2 =0
x2
y

(3.3)

In order to obtain the expressions for the finite strains, the following simplifications are made. It
is assumed that the effects of third and higher order terms of the strains are very small and can be
ignored and that  w  + u 2 /2 + v 2 /2 + w 2 /2. The longitudinal normal strain ss at the point
P(x, y) on the cross-section can then be obtained as


a0 a0
1 a a
ss = 2

s s
s s
w  + 12 u  + 12 v  + 12 w  x{u  C + v  S x0 S}
2

+ y{u  S v  C + x0 C 12 u 2 x0 x0 }
{  + u  x0 } + 12 (x 2 + y 2 ){  + u  x0 }2 ,
where the approximation = 1/(1 + w)
= 1/(2 + w  ) 1/2 is used. Similarly,




1 a a a0 a0

sx =

y+
s
2 s x
s x
x

(3.5)

(3.6)

and
sy =

1
2

a a a0 a0

s y
s y

x
s .
y

(3.7)

4. Buckling analysis
4.1

Stress resultants

In classical flexuraltorsional buckling analysis, the following assumptions are usually made. First,
there are no lateral and twist deformations before buckling. Secondly, the conservative loads that act
as well as the in-plane stress resultants are constant during the flexuraltorsional buckling. Hence,
during flexuraltorsional buckling, there are no changes of in- plane deformations. Thirdly, the
prebuckling strains are small so that linearized prebuckling strains can be used in the buckling
analysis, while fourthly, the effects of prebuckling deformations on the flexuraltorsional buckling
can be ignored. According these assumtions, prior to buckling, u = = 0 and the prebuckling

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and which may be solved by considering that the shear stresses sx and sy conjugate to the shear
strains sy and sx satisfy a traction-free boundary condition on the lateral surface. The solution
for the warping function (x, y) can be uniquely specified by using the following three additional
orthogonality conditions:

(x, y) d A =
x(x, y) d A =
y(x, y) d A = 0.
(3.4)

558

Y.- L . PI AND M . A . BRADFORD

shear strains sx , sy and shear stresses sx sy are equal to zero. Hence, only the in-plane stress
resultants prior to buckling exist and they are given by

N=
ss d A and M =
ss y d A,
A

where A is the area of the cross-section, N is the axial force, M is the bending moment about
the axis ox and ss is the longitudinal normal stress given by ss = Ess with E being Youngs
modulus. During the buckling, N and M remain constant.

A laterally fixed circular arch (u = = u  =  = 0 at s = 0 and s = S) with a radial load

q uniformly distributed around its centroidal axis (Fig. 1(a)) can be considered to be primarily
subjected to the uniform compression Q = N = q R, because the bending moments in the arch
are very small and can be ignored (M = 0). Under the uniform compression, an arch may bifurcate
in a flexuraltorsional buckling mode.
Because there are no changes of in-plane displacements during flexuraltorsional buckling, the
potential energy of in-plane uniformly distributed conservative loads q due to the lateral and
torsional buckling deformations is equal to zero. The potential energy of the arch due to lateral
and torsional buckling deformations can then be written as

1
2
2
2
=
(Ess
+ Gsx
+ Gsy
) d V,
(4.1)
2 V
where V indicates the volume of the arch and G is the shear modulus of elasticity.
Substituting (3.5) to (3.7) and M = 0 into (4.1), and considering the potential energy given by
(4.1) is produced by the lateral and torsional buckling deformations only, leads to







1 S
2
u  2
u 2
=
E I y u  +
+ E Iw 
+ G J 
2 0
R
R
R




u 2
ds,
(4.2)
+ N (u  )2 + r02 
R
where R 1/x0 is the radius of the circular arch because the curvature x0 of an arch is in the
negative direction of the axis oy, S is the length of the arch, I y is the second moment of area of the
cross-section about its minor principal axis, Iw is the warping constant of the cross-section, J is the
Saint-Venant torsional constant of the cross-section, and I y , Iw and J are defined by


 


2
2
2
2
Iy =
x
d A.
x d A, Iw =
d A and J =
+ y+
y
x
A
A
A
From symmetry, the first mode possible buckled shapes of a laterally fixed arch can be defined by


u
s

1
1 cos
,
(4.3)
=
=
uC
C
2
S/2

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4.2 Arches in uniform compression

559

BUCKLING OF FIXED ARCHES

According to the principle of stationary potential energy (17), the buckling equilibrium
configuration is defined by the equations

=0
u C
which leads to

where

k11
k21

k12
k22


k11 =

1 + a 2f b2f


k12
k22


=0
C

and



Ny f

uC
C


=

r2
1 + 02
R

0
0


,

(4.5)


Ny f ,

af
Q r02 N y f
= k21 =
afbf +
bf
N y f R M ys f


3a 2f
Q Ny f
r02 Ns f ,
= 1+ 2
N y f Ns f
bf


M ys f ,

in which N y f and Ns f are the first mode flexural buckling load and the torsional buckling load of a
fixed column of length S that is subjected to uniform axial compression respectively, and are given
by


2 E Iy
2 E Iw
1
Ny f =
,
(4.6)
and Ns f = 2 G J +
(S/2)2
(S/2)2
r0

M ys f = r02 N y f Ns f is the first mode flexuraltorsional buckling moment of a laterally fixed beam
of length S that is subjected to uniform bending, and the parameters a f and b f are defined by
af =

S/2
R

and

bf =

M ys f
.
N y f S/2

(4.7)

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where u C is the central lateral displacement and C is the central angle of twist during flexural
torsional buckling. The mode shapes of (4.3) satisfy the kinematic boundary conditions u = =
u  =  = 0 at s = 0 and s = S and the symmetric conditions u  =  = 0 at s = S/2.
By substituting (4.3) and N = Q into (4.2) and integrating (4.2), the potential energy due to
lateral and torsional buckling deformations becomes
 


 

 
3C2 S/2 2
1S
2 2u C C
2
2
=
E Iy uC

+ 2
8 2 S/2
S/2
R

R



2   2
uC

2u C C
+ G J + E Iw

+ C2
2
S/2
R
R



r02
r2
2
u C Q 1 + 2 + 2u C C Q 0 C2 r02 Q .
(4.4)
R
R

560

Y.- L . PI AND M . A . BRADFORD

Alternatively, the potential energy  given by (4.4) is stationary when  = 0 (17),



u C +
C = 0
u C
C
which can be written as

u C
C

T 

k11
k21

k12
k22



uC
C

(4.8)

=0

(4.9)

k11 k22 k12 k21 = 0

(4.10)

which can be written as the quadratic equation


2


A1 Q ays f /N y f + A2 Q ays f /N y f + A3 = 0
in which A1 = 1,

(4.11)

 


A2 = 2a 2f 1 3a 4f 1 + 3a 2f /b2f Ns f /N y f ,

and



A3 = 1 2a 2f + 3a 4f + 2a 2f /b2f Ns f /N y f .

The first mode flexuraltorsional buckling load of a fixed arch in uniform compression is then
obtained by solving (4.11) as


N

3a 2f
Q ays f
1 Ns f
yf
=
1 + 2 + 1 2a 2f + 3a 4f
Ny f
2 Ny f
N
bf
sf



2 
2
2
4


6a
9a
2a
Ny f
f Ny f
f
f
.
 1 (1 2a 2f + 3a 4f )
1 + 6a 2f 9a 4f
+ 2 + 4
Ns f
b2f Ns f
bf
bf

(4.12)

By using the I-section shown in Fig. 4 with typical material properties for steel (E = 2 105
MPa and G = 8 104 MPa; these values are also used throughout the paper), the first mode
flexuraltorsional buckling load Q ays f of fixed arches in uniform compression given by (4.12) with
n = 1 are compared in Fig. 5 with the first and second mode flexuraltorsional buckling loads Q aysn
(n = 1 and 2) of pin-ended arches in uniform compression given by (13)

Q aysn
1 Nsn
=
N yn
2 N yn

1+

an2
bn2


+2

an2
bn2



a2
1 + n2
bn

2 N

yn
+ 1 an2
Nsn


2 N yn 
4
1 1 an2
+ 1 an2
Nsn

N yn
Nsn

(4.13)

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which must hold for any variations {u C , C }T and leads to (4.5).

Equation (4.5) has a non-trivial solution for u C and C when

BUCKLING OF FIXED ARCHES

561

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Fig. 4 (a) Cross-section, and (b) dimensions

Fig. 5 Flexuraltorsional buckling of fixed arches in uniform compression

where the parameters an and bn are defined by

an =
in which M ysn =

S
n R

and

bn =

n M ysn
N yn S

(4.14)


r02 N yn Nsn is the nth mode flexuraltorsional buckling moment of a simply

562

Y.- L . PI AND M . A . BRADFORD

supported beam of length S that is subjected to uniform bending. Here N yn and Nsn are the nth
mode flexural buckling load and the torsional buckling load of a pin-ended column of length S that
is subjected to uniform axial compression respectively, and are given by

N yn

(n )2 E I y
=
S2

and

Nsn



(n )2 E Iw
1
.
= 2 GJ +
S2
r0

(4.15)

4.3

Arches in uniform bending

When an in-plane simply supported and out-of-plane fixed arch is subjected to equal and opposite
moments M, the arch is under uniform bending and the axial force N = 0. Under the uniform
bending, an arch may also bifurcate in a flexuraltorsional mode. Because there are no changes
of in-plane displacements during flexuraltorsional buckling, the potential energy of external inplane end moments M due to the lateral and torsional buckling deformations is equal to zero. The
potential energy of the arch due to flexuraltorsional buckling deformations can also be given by
(4.1).
Substituting N = 0 and (3.5) to (3.7) into (4.1) and considering the potential energy given in
(4.1) is produced by the lateral and torsional buckling deformations only leads to the following
expression for the potential energy due to these deformations:

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It is noted in Fig. 5 that the reference second mode flexural buckling load N ys2 of a pin-ended
column is equal to the reference first mode flexural buckling load N ys f of a fixed column (4, 5, 15).
It can be seen from Fig. 5 that when the included angle is small, the difference between the first
mode buckling load Q ays f of a fixed arch and the second mode buckling load Q ays2 of a pin-ended
arch is very small. The difference increases rapidly with an increase of the included angle .
The first mode buckling load ratio Q ays f /N ys f of a fixed arch decreases slowly with an increase
of the included angle  and still has a substantial value when  = 180 , whereas the first and
second mode buckling load ratios Q ays /N ys and Q ays2 /N ys2 of the corresponding pin-ended arch
decrease rapidly with an increase of the included angle  and the first mode buckling load becomes
zero and the second mode buckling load becomes very small when  = 180 . Hence, using the
second mode buckling load of a pin-ended arch as the first mode buckling load of a fixed arch
will significantly underestimate the flexuraltorsional buckling resistance of the fixed arch. This is
quite different from columns that are subjected to uniform axial compression. The second mode
flexural or torsional buckling load of a pin-ended column is equal to the first mode counterpart of
the corresponding fixed column (that is, when  = 0 in Fig. 5) (15).
The variations of the dimensionless first mode flexuraltorsional buckling load ratio Q ays f /N ys f
of fixed arches ( = 90 )given by (4.12) with the out-of-plane slenderness ratio S/r y are shown
in Fig. 6, where r y =
I y /A is the radius of gyration of the cross-section about its minor
principal axis. The variations of dimensionless first and second mode flexuraltorsional buckling
load ratios Q ays /N ys and Q ays2 /N ys2 of the corresponding pin-ended arches given by (4.13) with
the slenderness ratio S/r y are also shown in Fig. 6. It can be seen that the difference between the
first mode buckling load of fixed arches and the second mode buckling load of pin-ended arches
increases with an increase of S/r y .

563

BUCKLING OF FIXED ARCHES







1
2
u  2
u 2



=
+ E Iw
+ GJ
E Iy u +
R
R
R
0 2


2
u 2
+M 2u  +
+
ds.
R
R

(4.16)

Substituting (4.3) into (4.16) and then integrating gives



 
2 
2
E
I

E
I
E
I
1S
S/2
2
y
y
y
2
=
uC
2u C C
+ 3C2 2
8 2 S/2
R

(S/2)2
R






2
uC
E Iw 2
S/2 2
2u C C
2
2 M
2 M
+ GJ +
+ C 2u C C M + 3C
.

+ uC
R
R

R
(S/2)2
R2

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Fig. 6 Effects of the slenderness ratio S/r y on the buckling of fixed arches in uniform compression

564

Y.- L . PI AND M . A . BRADFORD

As in section 4.2, we obtain (4.10), where



M
k11 = 1 + a 2f b2f + a f b f
Ny f ,
M ys f


af
M
k12 = k21 =
M ys f ,
afbf
bf
M ys f


3a 2f
3a f M
k22 = 1 + 2 +
r02 Ns f .
b f M ys f
bf

2


B1 Mays f /M ys f + B2 Mays f /M ys f + B3 = 0

(4.17)

in which B1 = 1 3a 2f ,
B2 = a f b f 3a 3f b f

3a 3f
af

bf
bf

and

B3 = 2a 2f 3a 4f

2a 2f
b2f

1.

Equation (4.17) has two solutions, corresponding to positive bending (Fig. 3(c)) and negative
bending (Fig. 3(d)).
Typical relationships between the first mode flexuraltorsional buckling moment Mays f of a
laterally fixed arch given by (4.17) and the included angle  are shown in Fig. 7. The first and
second mode flexuraltorsional buckling moment Maysn (n = 1 and 2) of a simply supported arch
given by (5)
!
Maysn
an bn
an
=

M ysn
2
2bn

an bn
an

2
2bn

2
+ (1 an2 )2

(4.18)

are also shown in Fig. 7. It is noted in Fig. 7 that the reference second mode flexuraltorsional
buckling moment M ys2 of a simply supported beam is equal to the reference first mode flexural
torsional buckling moment M ys f of a laterally fixed beam (4, 5, 15). It can be seen from
Fig. 7 that under positive uniform bending (Fig. 3(c)), the dimensionless buckling moment ratio
Mays f /M ys f of laterally fixed arches increases with an increase of the included angle , whereas
the dimensionless first and second mode buckling moment ratios Mays /M ys and Mays2 /M ys2 of
simply supported arches decreases with an increase of the included angle  (the first mode buckling
moment of simply supported arches becomes zero when  = 180 ). The differences between
the buckling moments of laterally fixed arches and the second mode buckling moments of simply
supported arches are significant. This is quite different from beams that are subjected to uniform
bending. Under negative uniform bending (Fig. 3(d)), however, the absolute values of the buckling
moments of both laterally fixed arches and simply supported arches increase with an increase of the
included angle . The buckling moments of laterally fixed arches in negative uniform bending also
differ from the second mode buckling moments of simply supported arches.
Typical relationships between the dimensionless first mode flexuraltorsional buckling moment
ratio Mays f /M ys f of laterally fixed arches ( = 90 ) and the slenderness ratio S/r y are shown in

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This leads to the quadratic equation for the buckling moment Mays f

BUCKLING OF FIXED ARCHES

565

Fig. 8. The relationships of the dimensionless first and second mode flexuraltorsional buckling
moment ratios Mays /M ys and Mays2 /M ys2 of the corresponding laterally pin-ended arches with
the slenderness ratio S/r y are also shown in Fig. 8. It can be seen that for positive bending, the
difference between the first mode buckling moment ratio Mays f /M ys f of laterally fixed arches and
the second mode buckling moment ratio Mays2 /M ys2 of laterally pin-ended arches is significant and
increases with an increase of the slenderness ratio S/r y . For negative bending, the difference is less
significant.
5. Conclusions
This paper has investigated the elastic flexuraltorsional buckling of laterally fixed circular
arches in uniform compression and in uniform bending. The nonlinear relationship between the
displacements and strains during the flexuraltorsional buckling has been obtained based on an
accurate orthogonal rotation matrix. A classical energy approach for investigating the buckling of
laterally fixed arches was then formulated. Closed form solutions for the elastic flexural- torsional
buckling resistances of laterally fixed arches in uniform compression and in uniform bending have
been obtained in the paper.
It was found that for arches that are subjected to uniform axial compression, when the included
angle is small, the difference between the first mode flexuraltorsional buckling load of a fixed

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Fig. 7 Flexuraltorsional buckling of laterally fixed arches in uniform bending

566

Y.- L . PI AND M . A . BRADFORD

arch and the second mode flexuraltorsional buckling load of a pin-ended arch is very small. The
difference increases rapidly with an increase of the included angle  and becomes very large when
the included angle exceeds a certain value. The difference also increases with an increase of the
slenderness ratio S/r y .
For a laterally fixed arch that is subjected to positive uniform bending, as the included angle
increases, the first mode buckling moment of a laterally fixed arch increases whereas the second
mode buckling moment of a laterally pin-ended arch decreases and the difference between them
grows rapidly with the included angle. The difference also grows with S/r y . For a laterally fixed
arch that is subjected to negative uniform bending, as the included angle increases, the absolute
value of both the first mode buckling moment of a laterally fixed arch and the second mode buckling
moment of a laterally pin-ended arch increases. The absolute value of the second mode buckling
moment of a laterally pin-ended arch is somewhat higher that of the first mode buckling moment of
a laterally fixed arch.

Acknowledgement
This work has been supported by an Australian Professorial Fellowship and a Discovery Project
awarded to the second author by the Australian Research Council.

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Fig. 8 Effects of the slenderness ratio S/r y on the buckling of laterally fixed arches in uniform bending

BUCKLING OF FIXED ARCHES

567

References

APPENDIX
Rotations
The rotation matrix R that rotates a vector pi (i = x, y, s) to a new position q j ( j = x, y, s) about a rotation
vector can be expressed as (18)
R=I+

sin
1 sin2 (/2) 2
S() +
S (),

2 (/2)2

where = p = x px + y p y + s ps and the auxiliary matrix S() is skew-symmetric and given by

y
0 s
0 x .
S() = s
y
x
0

(A.1)

(A.2)

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1. Standards Australia, AS4100-1998, Steel structures (SA, Sydney, Australia 1998).

2. Y.-L. Pi and N. S. Trahair, Out-of-plane inelastic buckling and strength of steel arches, J. Struct.
Engng 124 (1998) 174183.
3.
and
, Inelastic lateral buckling strength and design of steel arches, Engng Struct. 22
(2000) 9931005.
4. S. P. Timoshenko and J. M. Gere, Theory of Elastic Stability, 2nd edition (McGrawHill, New
York 1961).
5. V. Z. Vlasov, Thin-Walled Elastic Beams, 2nd edition (Israel Program for Scientific
Translation, Jerusalem 1961).
6. C. H. Yoo, Flexuraltorsional stability of curved beams, J. Engng Mech. 108 (1982) 13511369.
7. SSRC, Guide to Stability Design, Criteria for Metal Structures, 4th edition (ed. T. V. Galambos;
Wiley, New York 1984).
8. J. P. Papangelis and N. S. Trahair, Flexuraltorsional buckling of arches, J. Struct. Engng 113
(1987) 889906.
9. Y.-B. Yang and S.-R. Kuo, Effects of curvature on stability of curved beams, ibid. 113 (1987)
821841.
10. S. Rajasekaran and S. Padmanabhan, Equations of curved beams, J. Engng Mech. 115 (1989)
10941111.
11. N. S. Trahair, FlexuralTorsional Buckling of Structures (E & FN Spon, London 1993).
12. Y.-L. Pi, J. P. Papangelis and N. S. Trahair, Prebuckling deformations and flexuraltorsional
buckling of arches, J. Struct. Engng 121 (1995) 13131322.
13. M. A. Bradford and Y.-L. Pi, Elastic flexuraltorsional buckling of discretely restrained arches,
ibid. 128 (2002) 719727.
14. Y.-L. Pi and M. A. Bradford, Elastic flexuraltorsional buckling of continuously restrained
arches, Int. J. Solids Struct. 39 (2002) 22992322.
15. N. S. Trahair and M. A. Bradford, The Behaviour and Design of Steel Structures to AS4100,
3rd editionAustralian (E & FN Spon, London 1998).
16. R. P. Burn, Groups. A Path to Geometry (Cambridge University Press, 2001).
17. G. J. Simitses, An Introduction to the Elastic Stability of Structures (PrenticeHall, Englewood
Cliffs 1976).
18. J. Argyris, An excursion into large rotations, Comput. Meth. in Appl. Mech. and Engng 32
(1982) 85155.

568

Y.- L . PI AND M . A . BRADFORD

The scaled rotation vector given by

= 2p tan (/2)

(A.3)

is used to construct the rotation matrix R.

Substituting the rotation vector of (A.3) for the rotation vector of (A.1) gives
R=I+

1
1
1
S() +
S2 ().
1 + /4
2 (1 + /4)

(A.4)

The vector can be expressed in component form by using basis vectors px , p y , ps as

(A.5)

and S() is given by (A.2), where x , y , s replace x , y , s , respectively.

By using (A.2) and (A.5), the components of the matrix R of (A.4) can be written as
R x x = [1 14 (1 + cos )(2y + s2 )],
R xs = 12 (1 + cos )( y + 12 x s ),
R yy = [1 14 (1 + cos )(s2 + 2x )],
Rsx = 12 (1 + cos )( y + 12 s x ),
Rss = [1 14 (1 + cos )(2x + 2y )].

R x y = 12 (1 + cos )(s + 12 x y ),
R yx = 12 (1 + cos )(s + 12 y x ),
R ys = 12 (1 + cos )(x + 12 y s ),
Rsy = 12 (1 + cos )(x + 12 y s ),

(A.6)
(A.7)
(A.8)
(A.9)
(A.10)

It can be derived from (A.5) that

4(1 cos )
2x + 2y + s2 = 4 tan2 =
2
1 + cos

(A.11)

and from (2.1) and (A.6) to (A.10), the unit vector qs can then be expressed in terms of the basis vectors px ,
p y , ps as
qs = R xs px + R ys p y + Rss ps = 12 (1 + cos )( y + 12 x s )px
+ 12 (1 + cos )(x + 12 y s )p y + [1 14 (1 + cos )(2x + 2y )]ps .

(A.12)

On the other hand, the unit vector qs can also be expressed by (2.12). Comparison of (2.12) and (A.12)
leads to
1 (1 + cos )( + 1 ) = u  ,
y
2
2 x s
1 (1 + cos )( + 1 ) = v  ,
x
2
2 y s
2
1
1 4 (1 + cos )(x + 2y ) = w  .

(A.13)
(A.14)
(A.15)

In order to express the rotation matrix in terms of general displacements, in addition to the displacements
u, v, w, a fourth displacement parameter s associated with the twist rotation of the cross-section is
introduced such that
s = 2 tan (/2).

(A.16)

Substituting (A.16) into (A.11) and then solving (A.11) and (A.15) simultaneously gives
cos = 1 + (1 + cos )(1 + w  )/2.

(A.17)

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= x px + y p y + s ps ,

BUCKLING OF FIXED ARCHES

Substituting (A.16) and (A.17) into (A.13) and (A.14) yields

#
"
"
#
and y = 2 u  + v  tan (/2) ,
x = 2 u  tan (/2) v 

569

(A.18)

where = 1/(1 + w  ). Substituting (A.16) to (A.18) into (A.6) to (A.10) leads to the following relationship
between basis vectors px , p y , ps in the undeformed configuration and basis vectors qx , q y , qs in the deformed
configuration being stated in tensor form as
qi = R ji p j ,

i, j = x, y, s,

(A.19)

[qx , q y , qs ] = [px , p y , ps ]R,

(A.20)

or in a matrix form as
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where the matrix R is given by (2.2) with components given by (2.3) to (2.5). These components are expressed
in terms of the four conventional displacement parameters u, v, w, and their derivatives, and they become
infinite only when 1 + w  = 0 and/or 1 +  = 0. These situations cannot occur during the deformation of a
real structure.
The rotation matrix R of (2.2) belongs to the special orthogonal rotation group S O(3) because it satisfies
the orthogonality conditions of (2.6). For the S O(3) group, the invariant requirement needed for the rigid body
rotation is satisfied, namely, the curvatures and strains are invariant during the rigid body rotations.