The Postbuckling Behavior of Planar Elastica Constrained by a Deformable Wall

Attributed to its significance in a wide range of practical applications, the post-buckling behavior of a beam with lateral constraints has drawn much attention in the last few decades. Despite the fact that, in reality, the lateral constraints are often flexible or deformable, vast majority of studies have considered fixed and rigid lateral constraints. In this paper, we make a step toward bridging this gap by studying the post-buckling behavior of a planar beam that is laterally constrained by a deformable wall. Unfortunately, the interaction with a compliant wall prevents derivation of closed-form analytical solutions. Nevertheless, careful examination of the governing equations of a simplified model reveals general properties of the solution, and let us identify the key features that govern the behavior. Specifically, we construct universal "solution maps" that do not depend on the mode number and enable simple and easy prediction of the contact conditions and of the mode-switching force (the force at which the system undergoes instantaneous transition from one equilibrium configuration (or mode) to another). The predictions of the mathematical model are validated against finite element (FE) simulations.