Effects of composite material layering on the buckling mode of a cylindrical shell

Introduction. At present, composite materials are widely used in building structures and their components. The relevance of the work is determined by the buckling study of a shell structure made of a carbon fiber reinforced polymer. Despite the available experience in creating geometric models of finite element grids and studying the buckling of shell structures, the task of analyzing the mechanical behavior of shell layers remains insufficiently investigated. Therefore, research into the effects caused by polymer layering variations on a buckling mode appears to be urgent for regulating the layering process at various angle combinations due to a lack of sufficient data.Aim. The study was aimed at identifying a layering pattern, under which maximum and minimum critical forces operate.Materials and methods. The object of the study involves a cylindrical shell with a radius of 300 mm, a height of 600 mm, and a wall thickness of 1.56 mm made of eight variously-oriented carbon fiber layers impregnated with epoxy resin. The design modeling was performed using the finite element method. The cylindrical shell walls were modeled in terms of Laminate type flat elements, taking into account the composite layers. At the lower end, the cylinder was rigidly fixed and 100 kN axial compressive force was applied to the upper end of the cylinder. Using a software package, the variants of buckling modes were obtained for further analysis.Results. The data, describing the buckling of a cylindrical shell, including the critical load coefficient at the first buckling mode were obtained by the finite element method. In addition, the dependence of a critical force on layering patterns was determined. Depending on the critical force value and the buckling mode, the most and least favorable patterns of layering in a package of a composite material were selected.Conclusions. The orientation of layers in a composite material package affects the buckling mode and the value of critical force. An optimal selection of the layer orientation increases the critical force value by 2.25 times based on the information about the conditions of structural loading and fastening.