Stability of Pflüger column with imperfections (Q1104151)

This is an interesting paper because the authors show what new results can be obtained from the application of the modern mathematical methods of bifurcation and singularity theory to a classical beam buckling problem. By application of the Ljapunov-Schmidt method and the unfolding theory in the spirit of \textit{M. Golubitsky} and \textit{D. Schaeffer} [e.g.: Singularities and groups in bifurcation theory. I. (1985; Zbl 0607.35004) and Commun. Pure appl. Math. 32, 21-98 (1979; Zbl 0409.58007)] the authors show that the problem concerning its imperfection sensitivity behavior is completely described by a Whitney cusp.