Abstract: A new mechanical method, random displacement method, was used to analyse static buckling of frame structure. The basic idea was to discrete the structure and find the load function according to the energy criterion of buckling and the principle of random displacement method. As the critical load is the minimum of the load function, a problem of frame buckling can be transformed into an optimization problem. Therefore, the critical load can be found through solving the optimization problem. The feasibility of the method is discussed on the basis of numerical computing instances.

Key words: static buckling of frame, energy criterion, random displacement method, genetic algorithm