Buckling analysis of thin cylindrical CFRP panel with oval cutout

Abstract

Abstract The use of laminated composite is growing rapidly in many fields due to their high stiffness to weight and strength to weight ratios, low modulus of expansion, thermal conductivity etc. According to their applications, composite materials undergo different loading conditions. One of the common failures is buckling, when the laminate is subjected to axial compressive load. Hence buckling analysis of composite structure is very important from design point of view. Different cutout shapes of thin cylindrical shells have been studied for buckling, but oval shaped cutouts with different orientations seems scanty and requires more investigation. In the present study, buckling analysis of thin cylindrical carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite shell with oval cutout has been investigated. The effects of three types of variables viz. layup orientation, element type and cutout orientation are analyzed numerically. The results show that the buckling load and mode shape depend on all three variables. The four ply stack orientations panel show significantly higher buckling load than two ply stack, and large decrease in buckling load with respect to cutout orientation. The buckling modes are highly affected by the cutout orientation. The minimum value of buckling load with respect to cutout orientation depends upon layup configuration. The lowest value of buckling load has been obtained for configuration 2 at 90° cutout orientation.