Effect of Helical Winding Angle on External Pressure based Buckling of Partially Filled Thin Composite Cylindrical Shells

Abstract

Effect of helical winding angle on buckling load of thin composite tubes is investigated in this work.  Experiments are conducted on both empty and partially filled S2 glass tubes to estimate contribution of strength to the tubes by the filler material.  Chosen filler material mechanically simulates behavior of typical solid propellant used in aerospace application.   FE analysis with non-linear effect correlates well with the experimental data.  Three series of experiments are conducted to quantify effect of helical winding angle and increase in volumetric loading fraction(VLF).  Results confirm appreciable improvement in strength of filled tubes for higher VLF.  For the chosen pattern of winding, lower winding angle provides more strength to the tubes against external pressure buckling.