21st Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Melbourne, Australia, 13-18 September, 1998
Paper ICAS-98-4.4.1

BUCKLING TESTS OF CARBON-EPOXY LAMINATED CYLINDRICAL SHELLS UNDER AXIAL COMPRESSION AND TORSION

Bisagni C.
Milan Polytechnical University, Italy

Keywords: buckling tests, carbon-epoxy, laminated cylindrical shells, axial compression and torsion

This paper describes an experimental and numerical study, that is part of a research project aiming at improving the knowledge of buckling behaviour of composite shell structures. The experimental equipment and the methodologies for systematic data acquisition in buckling tests on composite cylindrical shells, under axial compression and torsion, applied individually and in combination, are described. Typical results of the first tests performed on carbon-epoxy laminated cylinders are presented, in terms of diagrams, post-buckling patterns and two-dimensional Fourier analysis. The buckling phenomena is numerically investigated using two finite element codes: ABAOUS and ABAOUS/EXPLICIT. The geometric imperfections measured on the internal surface of the specimens are introduced in the numerical models and the analysis results are compared to the experimental ones. In particular, the numerical analysis is able to follow the evolution of the cylinder shape from the buckling to the post buckling region.

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