On the Sufficiency of the Energy Criterion for the Stability of Certain Nonconservative Systems of the Follower-Load Type

Using Galerkin’s method it is shown that in the domain of divergence, the nonconservative system of the follower-load type is always more stable than the corresponding conservative system. Hence, for nonconservative systems of the divergence type, the critical load of the corresponding conservative system becomes a lower bound for the buckling load, and the energy criterion remains sufficient for predicting stability. Moreover, it is proven that even for more general nonconservative systems, the energy criterion is sufficient under certain restrictions.