The influence of the manufacturing process and test boundary conditions on the buckling load of thin-walled cylindrical CFRP shells

Abstract

Thin-walled cylindrical CFRP shells tend to buckle under compressive loads. The experimental buckling load is significantly lower than the theoretical one. The reason for this are various kinds of imperfections which are partially caused by the manufacturing process and the test conditions. A major challenge in the design of these shells is the lack of experimental data. Additionally, the quality of test results is rarely critically reviewed in the validation of design approaches. In this paper, the influence of two different manufacturing processes on the geometric imperfections and the influence of three different test rigs on the buckling load are investigated in an experimental campaign with 12 cylindrical CFRP shells. Furthermore, the influence of varying the test rig boundary conditions is analysed.