Buckling and Postbuckling Behavior of Steep Compressible Arches

The bifurcation buckling and postbuckling behavior of steep, compressible, circular arches is examined. The arches are loaded with a uniform constant directional pressure and may be either pinned or clamped. The development is based on Koiter\u27s theory. Two different arch theories are used so as to facilitate a study of bending in the prebuckling state. It is shown that clamped arches are always unstable after bifurcation, while pinned arches exhibit a transition from unstable to stable behavior as a semi-circular arch is approached. The results are also compared to results obtained using shallow arch theory and the comparison is reasonably good for moderately steep arches. The effect of middle surface extensibility (compressibility) and of the prebuckling bending is virtually undetectable