Effect of initial imperfection on the stability of compressible columns with load dependent support

Stability is one of the serious problems associated with slender structural elements. Column is an important member of such elements that the study of its complex behavior is necessary due to their significant use in the structural applications. In this paper, the influence of initial imperfection on the stability of a compressible column with load-dependant support is studied. The column model is introduced, considering compressibility and load-dependant behavior of the support. The effect of initial imperfection is considered in the equilibrium equation of the column and the equilibrium paths are plotted in each state of reference support stiffness functions for specific imperfection magnitudes. In each state, the change of critical load of the column versus the values of the imperfection is extracted and the effect of initial imperfection on the stability of the column is discussed.