OPTIMAM SHAPE OF TAPERED COLUMNS UNDER AXIAL COMPRESSIVE FORCE

The continuous and rapid development of shapes for architectural members and structural researches development in stability field encourage the designers and researchers to study the effect of member shape on the load capacity. The optimum strength of compression members with economical dimensions can be obtained to satisfy the architectural and technical requirements. A different nonlinear tapered member shapes have been studied under compression axial force with simply supported end conditions. Then graphical comparisons for different member shapes are presented to find the maximum axial force and minimum member volume at buckling state. This study is based on modified stability functions that have been based on Bessel functions. The results of this study provide structural and architectural designers the most proper member’s shape, with more economical dimensions to carry the design load.