Experimental Buckling of Thin Composite Cylinders in Compression

摘要

Experimental equipment is described that is used of perform- ing buckling tests, under axial compression, on composite cylin- drical shells, and the results are reported of tests on 16 thin shells in carbon fabric, carbon unidirectional laid down, and carbon rov- ing tape wrapped with different layup orientations. Typical results, showing variations of compressive load with axial displacement and postbuckling patterns, are presented. A comparison between exper- imental and analytical linear buckling loads is performed, showing that, in most cases, the ratio between the buckling loads (measured and analytical) is significantly high.