Instability Analysis

Very often a structure fails to meet expected static load limits predicted by a linear static analysis. This is because there is an additional factor to deal with: the structure's elastic instability.

This phenomenon becomes more apparent as the structure being studied becomes slimmer. In such cases small deformations, caused by a load unbalance, unsymmetrical residual stress, small pre-existent deformations, are unable to be balanced by the elastic forces of the system, increasing until the collapse of the structure itself.

While simple geometric cases can be foreseen using analytical formulas, like the classical example of a pole loaded at the tip, others with more complexity need a finite element approach.

With this type of analysis, together with the static linear analysis, the risk can be avoided.