On buckling of layered composite heavy columns—Effect of interlayer bonding imperfection

Abstract

Buckling loads of partial composite columns under distributed axial loads is investigated in this paper for the first time. The interlayer interaction corresponding to the level of interfacial bonding imperfection in the layered heavy composite columns is formulated in the model by a shear slip/stiffness modulus. Governing differential equations and boundary equations are derived and represented in a general dimensionless form. A semi-analytical solution is applied to the governing buckling equations of the presented model using power-series technique to extract critical loads of partial composite columns. Five different classical end types are considered namely clamped–clamped (C-C), clamped-pinned (C-P), clamped-sliding (C-S), clamped-free (C-F) and pinned–pinned (P-P). Also, for two extreme cases of non-composite/zero-interaction and full-composite/perfectly-bonded layered columns, exact closed-form characteristic buckling equations are introduced. A convergence study is conducted to ensure stability of the applied power-series solution. It is demonstrated that the obtained buckling loads for partial composite columns with different end conditions approach those obtained from the exact closed-from solution for the full-composite extreme case when the interfacial shear modulus approaches infinity. Effect of imperfect bonding between the column layers and slip on critical buckling loads is investigated. It is shown that a more realistic model based on the partial composite interaction hypothesis predicts critical loads that are less than those based on idealized composite columns with perfect interfacial bonding.