The buckling and post-buckling behavior of portal frames are studied by the formulation of finite elements with additional degrees of freedom in order to implement a new routine for obtaining critical loads in FTOOL, a structural analysis educational interactive system. Linearized analyses were performed in order to obtain critical loads and buckling modes for columns with different boundary conditions. Later, numerical tests were done in order to predict the stability of the post- critical path (sensitivity to imperfections) of some structures which analytical results are known. Finally, some examples were modeled in FTOOL to verify its accuracy in obtaining critical loads of portal frames. Roorda s frame was used as an example for the detection of the sensitivity to imperfections, based on its simplicity and knowledge of its analytical results.