Elastic stability of shallow pin-ended parabolic arches subjected to step loads

Buckling could be induced when shallow arches were subjected to vertical step loads. In-plane static and dynamic buckling of shallow pin-ended parabolic arches with a horizontal cable was investigated. Based on the equations of motion derived from Hamilton’s principle, nonlinear equilibrium equations and static buckling equilibrium equations were deduced. Through the pseudo-static analysis, approximate solutions to the lower and upper dynamic buckling loads under step loads were obtained, for shallow parabolic arches. The results show that dynamic buckling and snap-through buckling are impossible when modified slenderness ratio λ<λc and λ>λs, where λc and λs denote critical slenderness ratios of bucking and snap-through buckling, respectively; effects of the stiffness of the horizontal cable on the dynamic buckling are significant; and the dynamic buckling loads under a equivalent central concentrated step load are lower than the loads under a distributed load appreciably.