Buckling and stress-competitive failure analyses of composite laminated cylindrical shell under axial compression and torsional loads

Advanced composite laminated cylindrical shells are increasingly being desired in modern aerospace structures, for improving their structural efficiency and performance. In this paper, compared with the previous failure analysis, which considered buckling-failure only, a competitive failure analysis framework for composite laminated cylindrical shells is presented, in which linear buckling interacting curve method was considered for buckling-failure analysis and strength ratio based on Tsai-Wu failure criterion was used for stress-failure analysis. The proposed framework agreed well with the published data, which verified it's feasibility. The competitive failure analysis of composite laminated cylindrical shells and parametric studies were conducted to reveal the failure mode. It is found that the higher ratios of longitudinal compressive strength to longitudinal modulus and shear strength to longitudinal modulus of composite materials, the more likely buckling-failure occurs; otherwise, stress-failure occurs. As the ratio of radius to thickness reduces, the possibility of occurrence of stress-failure increases. Moreover, the stress-failure for [90 degrees/0 degrees/90 degrees] stacking sequence is more likely to occur than [theta/0 degrees/theta], and 0 degrees < theta < 90 degrees Finally, the presented study offers a strategy to increase the load carrying capacity of the composite laminated shell under combined axial compression and torsional loads.

Automated summary

This study reveals the failure mode of composite laminated cylindrical shells through a competitive failure analysis framework and parametric studies, identifying factors influencing buckling failure and stress failure. The study also examines the stress failure of different stacking sequences.