• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.305-313
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• 2019

Creating different cutout shapes in order to make doors and windows, reduce the structural weight or implement various mechanisms increases the likelihood of buckling in thin-walled structures. In this study, the effect of cutout shape and geometric imperfection (GI) is simultaneously investigated on the critical buckling load and knock-down factor (KDF) of composite cylindrical shells. The GI is modeled using single perturbation load approach (SPLA). First, in order to assess the finite element model, the critical buckling load of a composite shell without cutout obtained by SPLA is compared with the experimental results available in the literature. Then, the effect of different shapes of cutout such as circular, elliptic and square, and perturbation load imperfection (PLI) is investigated on the buckling behavior of cylindrical shells. Results show that the critical buckling load of a shell without cutout decreases by increasing the PLI, whereas increasing the PLI does not have a great impact on the critical buckling load in the presence of cutout imperfection. Increasing the cutout area reduces the effect of the PLI, which results in an increase in the KDF.

• Composites Research
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.283-289
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• 2021

This paper derives numerically the buckling Knockdown factors using two different initial imperfection models, such as geometric and loading imperfection models, to investigate the unstiffened composite cylinder with an ellipse pre-buckling deformation pattern. Single Perturbation Load Approach (SPLA) is applied to represent the geometric initial imperfection of a thin-walled composite cylinder; while Single Boundary Perturbation Approach (SBPA) is used to represent the geometric and loading imperfections simultaneously. The buckling Knockdown factor derived using SPLA is higher than NASA's buckling design criteria by approximately 84%, and lower than buckling test result by 9%. The buckling Knockdown factor using SBPA is higher than NASA's buckling design criteria by about 75%, and 14% lower than the buckling test result. Therefore, it is shown that the buckling Knockdown factors derived in this study can provide a lightweight design compared to the previous buckling design criteria while they give reasonably a conservative design compared to the buckling test for both the initial imperfection models.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.321-328
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• 2021

This paper derives numerically new buckling Knockdown factors for the lightweight design of the composite propellant tanks for space launch vehicles. A nonlinear finite element analysis code, ABAQUS, is used for the present postbuckling analysis of composite cylinders under compressive loads. Various thickness ratios (R/t) and slenderness ratios (L/R) are considered and Single Perturbation Load Approach is applied to represent the geometric initial imperfection of the composite cylinder. For the composite cylinder with thickness ratio of 500 and slenderness ratio of 2.04, the buckling Knockdown factor derived in this work is higher by 84.38% than NASA's previous buckling design criteria. Therefore, it is investigated that a lightweight design is possible when the present Knockdown factors are used for the design of composite propellant tanks. In addition, it is shown that global buckling loads and buckling Knockdown factors decrease as the thickness ratio or slenderness ratio of composite cylinders increases.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.87 no.5
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• pp.419-429
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• 2023

This study conducts numerical analyses of a thin-walled composite cylinder under axial compression and internal pressure of 10 kPa. Numerical vibration correlation technique and nonlinear postbuckling analyses are conducted using the nonlinear finite element analysis program, ABAQUS. The single perturbation load approach and measured imperfection data are used to represent the geometric initial imperfection of thin-walled composite cylinder. The buckling knockdown factors are derived using present initial imperfection and analysis methods under axial compression without and with the internal pressure. Furthermore, the buckling knockdown factors are compared with the buckling test and computation time are calculated. In this study, derived buckling knockdown factors in present study have difference within 10% as compared with the buckling test. It is shown that nonlinear postbuckling analysis can derive relatively accurate buckling knockdown factor of present thin-walled cylinders, however, numerical vibration correlation technique derives reasonable buckling knockdown factors compared with buckling test. Therefore, this study shows that numerical vibration correlation technique can also be considered as an effective numerical method with 21~91% reduced computation time than nonlinear postbuckling analysis for the derivation of buckling knockdown factors of present composite cylinders.