The effect of radius variations on buckling of fibrous composite structures subjected to different types of loading

Abstract

An analytical investigation of the buckling problem of composite shells with radius variation is presented. Different types of loading such as compressive and external can be applied. Flügge's shell equations, modified for anisotropic laminated materials are used.The modal forms are assumed to have axial dependency in the form of simple Fourier series. To implement the present method to find the buckling load of composite tubes with different boundary conditions the derivatives of Fourier series are legitimized using Stocke's transformation. The mathematical model presented includes the radius variations at the cross section of tubes in the form of function including imperfection factor. The analytical procedure developed in this work for finding the buckling loads yields an exact equation which is simpler than the exact method adopted by other research workers . The results are presented in the form of buckling diagrams and figures showing the mode shapes. © 2010 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.