Critical Euler load for a cantilever tapered beam

In this paper the method of influence function is applied to solving the problem of critical Euler load of a cantilever tapered beam. In such a case the critical load results form a dead load of a beam. A general form of a characteristic equation is obtained by means of the Cauchy function in a power series form which enables evaluation of critical Euler loads for sharp cone and frustum of cone cantilever beams. The accuracy of calculations of a critical Euler load of cantilever beams subjected to com-pressive loading is tested by comparison with the well-known theoretical solutions. It is shown that a very good approximation of the exact solution can be obtained using only two first terms of a characteristic series.