Local buckling of fiber reinforced plastic composite structural members with open and closed cross sections

The local buckling analysis of fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) composite open and closed thin-walled section beams and columns is presented. Explicit expressions are developed for axially loaded and for bent box-, I-, C-, Z-, and L-members. These simple, explicit formulas contain the width and the bending stiffnesses (D-11, D-22, D-12, D-66) of each wall segment. The utility of the method is demonstrated by numerical examples.