Buckling and Postbuckling of Thin-Walled Composite Stiffeners

Abstract

A review is given of the different types of symmetry exhibited by the prebuckling, buckling and postbuckling responses of composite stiffeners. A simple and efficient computational strategy is presented for generating both the postbuckling response and the sensitivity derivatives, with respect to lamination and material parameters, in the presence of symmetry-breaking conditions. The potential of the foregoing strategy for solving practical space structure problems is discussed, and its effectiveness is demonstrated by means of a numerical example of the postbuckling and sensitivity analyses of a composite stiffener with a Zee-section subjected to uniform end shortening.