Buckling of a twisted and compressed rod supported by Cardan joints

We consider the problem of determining the stability boundary of an elastic rod supported by Cardan joints at both ends. The rod is loaded by a compressive force and a couple. The constitutive equations of the rod take into account the compressibility of the rod axis. The stability boundary is determined by the bifurcation points of a system of eight nonlinear first order differential equations obtained by using suitable dependent variables. The type of bifurcation is examined depending on the compressibility. By numerical integration of a system of ten nonlinear first order differential equations the post-critical shape of the rod is determined. (C) 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.