Euler Buckling Load Calculator

About this calculator

Slender columns don't fail by crushing — they fail by buckling, suddenly bowing sideways under a compressive load well below what the material could otherwise withstand. Leonhard Euler derived the critical load at which this happens in 1757: Pcr = π²·E·I / (K·L)², where E is the material's Young's modulus, I is the cross-section's moment of inertia, L is the column length, and K is the end-fixity factor that accounts for how the ends are restrained (K=1 for pinned-pinned, K=0.5 for fixed-fixed, K=2 for fixed-free).

This calculator finds that critical load from the column's properties, a standard early check for structural and mechanical engineers sizing columns, struts, and slender compression members before running a full code-based design check — buckling is a stability failure, not a strength failure, so it can occur even in columns that would easily survive the same load in pure compression.