Buckling Behavior of Elastomeric Bearings

Abstract

A multilayered elastomeric bearing can be susceptible to a buckling type of instability similar to that of an ordinary column, but dominated by the low-shear stiffness of a bearing. The previous analysis of the overall deformation of a single pad can be used in a buckling analysis that treats the bearing as a continuous composite system. This analysis considers the bearing to be a beam, and the deformation is assumed to be such that plane sections normal to the undeformed central axis remain plane, but not necessarily normal to the deformed axis.