Buckling of Struts

Students will test a range of struts, by applying compressive stress until they buckle.

Struts vary by length and the material they are made from.

They will compare results to the Euler Buckling theory to study its validity.

Students then use Shimadzu testing machines to load each strut until it reaches its buckling point.

When plotting their experimental results, they can see how accurately various theoretical models can predict the real behaviour.

Students demonstrate to themselves that Euler's theory is only accurate for slender struts; and the other models give a much better prediction due to their use of empirical data.