Buckling

[1] A distortion of accumulator plates caused by uneven expansion, usually as a result of heavy discharges or other maltreatment.
[2] Mode of deformation in which an elastic instability occurs in a plate or a structural member under compressive load, resulting in a twisting or bending out of shape. Usually leads to plastic deformation and eventual collapse.
See also Euler buckling limit
[3] A term in reactor diffusion theory giving a measure of curvature of the deutron density distribution. The geometric buckling depends only on the shape and dimensions of the assembly while the material buckling provides a measure of the multiplying properties of an assembly as a function of the materials and their disposition.