LATERAL FLEXURE ANALYSIS OF CRACKED ECCENTRIC COLUMN WITH RAYLEIGH-ROTZ ENERGY METHOD

The lateral flexure of cracked eccentrically compressed column is analyzed and the effects of crack on lateral flexure are studied in this paper. For a cracked column with both ends pinned. the elastic lateral flexure equation is derived by means of Rayleigh-Ritz energy method. The flexure function is assumed as a trigonometric series. The change in elastic energy caused by. introducing the crack is expressed under the fixed grip condition and the flexure coefficient C is determined by use of minimum potential energy principle. Consequently, a series solution of elastic flexure, that satisfies the compatibility of deformation, is obtained analytically. As an example, a box column that contains a through-wall mode I crack situated on the middle across section is studied to verify the solution In addition the influences of crack size on maximum lateral flexure for various loads or eccentricity are investigated The numerical results show that the first term of the series can be used in engineering with satisfactory accuracy.