An experimental program for collapse of curved stiffened composite shell structures encountered a wide range of initial and deep buckling mode shapes. This paper presents work to determine the significance of the buckling deformations for determining the final collapse loads and to understand the source of the variation. A finite element analysis is applied to predict growth of damage that causes the disbonding of stiffeners and defines a load displacement curve to final collapse. The variability in material properties and geometry is then investigated to identify a range of buckling modes and development of deep postbuckling deformation encountered in the experimental program. Finally the load paths for the damaged panels are used to visualise the load transfer and enhance the physical understanding of the load displacement history.
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