Thermo-Mechanical Buckling Analysis of Restrained Columns Under Longitudinal Steady-State Heat Conduction

In this work, thermo-mechanical buckling analysis of restrained columns with various boundary conditions under longitudinal steady-state heat conduction is presented. Considering the temperature dependence of material properties, the temperature distribution along the longitudinal direction of the column is solved by applying the differential quadrature method (DQM). A piecewise model is introduced for the buckling analysis: the column under a longitudinal non-uniform temperature field is divided into finite piecewise elements, each of which is assumed to be under uniform temperature distribution. Based on the Euler-Bernoulli theory, the critical buckling load and buckling mode are obtained by using the transfer-matrix method. The present results are verified by comparing with those in the literature and those obtained from the finite element method (FEM). The parameter analysis reveals the effects of temperature distribution and the temperature-dependent material properties on the critical buckling load and buckling mode of a restrained steel column, and the critical buckling temperatures at the two ends of the column are studied.