Buckling of Pretwisted Columns

The effect of pretwist on the buckling load of column is presanted. A finite element formulation is developed for the stability analysis of pretwisted columns. Numerical examples are used on pretwisted columns and other related types of columns to demonstrate the finite element model. In all cases, good convergence is observed and satisfactory accuracy is obtained by using few elements, and the required computational effort is found to be minimal. Experimental results are presented for the buckling loads and the associated buckling modes by varying the angles of pretwist. Good agreement between the predicted values and the experimental results is observed. Finite element solutions, of critical loads of pretwisted columns are presented in tabular form and also graphically for various angles of pretwist and different ratios of principal moment of inertia.