Buckling analysis of cracked columns subjected to lateral loads

The analysis of buckling of elastic columns is one of the first problem in structural engineering that was historically solved. Critical loads of perfect columns with various end restrains have been derived. Nevertheless, the perfect column is an idealized model. In reality, unavoidable imperfections should be considered. Solutions for transversal disturbing load, crookedness or load eccentricity have been proposed. Another frequent imperfection to be taken into account is the weakness at an interior location due to a partial edge crack. In this paper the buckling analysis of a cracked T-column subjected to lateral loads is performed. If a lateral distributed load is applied first, the evaluation of the critical load can be vanished by the crack propagation.