Elastic buckling characteristics of triangular tubes under uniaxial loading

Tubular structures play an important role in energy absorbing components and structural members requiring high strength-to-weight ratio. The theory of buckling of circular, square and rectangular tubes is relatively well established in the literature. The study of buckling of triangular tubes, however, has received much less attention. In this paper, an analytical solution for the elastic buckling of isosceles triangular tubes was obtained by considering the buckling characteristics of individual walls of the triangular tube with appropriate edge conditions. The results from this analytical solution were compared with previously published work in the literature and finite element simulations. The comparison revealed good agreement between these results.

► Investigation of elastic buckling of equilateral and short base triangular tubes. ► Theoretical formulation of the buckling critical load of triangular tubes. ► Verification of the theoretical critical load results using finite element analysis. ► Close match of the results of theoretical and analytical solutions. ► Comparison of the analytical buckling modes with and finite element results.