term describing bending behavior

[medpac]

Problem: Take a u-channel and bend it with the legs facing away from the bend axis. The channel bends uniformly, stretching the legs. If you then bend the same u-channel with the legs facing toward the inside of the bend, the legs quickly buckle. What is the term that describes this behavior? Can someone point me to a reference that speacks to this subject?

Many thanks!

 

[MikeHalloran]

For clarity, I'd say "legs out" or "flanges out" or "legs in" or "flanges in". I'm not sure there's a standard nomenclature, because channels don't behave well when bent either way, so it's not a particularly common operation.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[rb1957]

flexural buckling ?

 

[drawoh]

medpac,

Compressive buckling?

Metal structures usually do not fracture in compression. They buckle.

JHG

 

[Compositepro]

I call it the steel tape measure effect. I'm not aware of any more official name. I'm sure the math has been analyzed quite extensively. NASA and others have used the effect to make struts and booms for spacecraft which can be rolled-up and then deployed. You could try searching the NASA site for technical publications.

 

[rb1957]

"the effect to make struts and booms for spacecraft which can be rolled-up and then deployed" ... if that's what the OP is after, "metallic memory" is a term i've heard.

 

[GregLocock]

lateral elastic buckling of the flanges.



Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?