1. Concept of Stability

The chapter presents basic concepts of the structural stability under the external applied loads. The applied loads may be in form of the mechanical or thermal loads, where the latter create thermal stresses due to the temperature gradient in the structure. When the applied loads result into the compressive stresses, the structural member may fail due to lack of stability. In general, three types of static stability are recognized. These are; the classical buckling or bifurcation, the finite disturbance buckling, and the snapthrough buckling. These different types of instabilities depend upon a number of factors such as the geometry of the structure, the initial geometric imperfection, the boundary conditions, and the material property distribution. The chapter also discusses the nature of the post-buckling path, where it may be stable or unstable paths depending upon the above factors.