AN ENERGY APPROACH TO THE INSTABILITY PROBLEM OF OVERFED SEAMS

Different factors affecting seam instability are discussed and major energy terms involved and their order of magnitude are recognised. By comparing pre‐buckling and post‐buckling energies, four dimensionless groups were derived which are responsible for seam instability and can be used as independent variables in analysing the experimental results. The paper goes further and compares the analytical conclusions with the results of other investigators.