Local buckling of pultruded beams - nonlinearity, anisotropy and inhomogeneity

摘要

Local buckling of pultruded fibre-reinforced plastic beams is discussed. The paper focuses on three issues related to the prediction of buckling loads both from experimental data and from analytical and numerical approaches, viz. nonlinearity, anisotropy and inhomogeneity. Experimental data obtained from full-scale buckling tests are reviewed and a method proposed for estimating the buckling stress in pultruded beams. Analytical studies based on classical orthotropic plate buckling theory are used to determine the edge restraint coefficient for pultruded beams and also to show the influence of the in-plane material properties on the buckling loads. Numerical studies using the finite element method in which inhomogeneous material properties in the beam cross-section are considered are used to give predictions of buckling loads of the beams. Although the paper focuses on local buckling of pultruded beams, it raises issues which are relevant to the analysis of pultruded material structures of all types.