Large Deflection Buckling of Space Frames

Buckling loads of space rigid frames based on large deflection theory were determined herein by a method referred to as the constant load method. In this method, the load is maintained at certain constant level and the deflected position which will provide the necessary internal forces to balance the external load is determined by iteration. The load is then increased to the next level and the process repeated until the process becomes divergent or the determinant of the stiffness matrix becomes zero. The advantages of the method are: (1) the direct application of stiffness coefficients developed for the small deflection buckling and (2) the possibility of starting iteration at any level. Verification of the method with various published examples was made. An illustration was made for the determination of large deflection buckling mode of a symmetrically loaded framed dome.