Dynamic instability of a transversely isotropic column subjected to a compression pulse

A theoretical study of the dynamic instability of geometrically imperfect transversely isotropic columns under axial compressive pulse is presented. The analysis includes transverse shear deformation as well as translational and rotational inertia terms. The effect of transverse shear rigidity is investigated for various pulse frequencies, ranging from quasi-static to impulsive compressive loads. An appropriate dynamic instability criterion is defined and utilized and the corresponding buckling results are compared with those for isotropic columns, as well as with results obtained by the classical beam theory. The results show that for isotropic columns the classical theory predicts accurately the dynamic buckling strength. However, for columns with low transverse shear rigidity, buckling loads predicted by the refined theory may be as low as almost two thirds of those estimated via the classical theory. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.