Experimental, numerical and analytical study on axial compression buckling of chopped glass fibre-reinforced polymer cylindrical shells

A series of experiments were carried out to investigate the buckling response of chopped strand mat glass fibrereinforced polyester (CSM-GFRP) cylindrical shells when subjected to axial compression load. Finite element modelling by using ABAQUS was performed to verify the experimental results, then a parametric study was conducted to investigate the effect of wall thickness, shell height, radius, young's modulus, fibre volume fraction, and geometric imperfections on the buckling load of the CSM-GFRP cylindrical shells. The findings revealed that the buckling load was decreased with increasing the radius-to-wall thickness ratio (r/t) and increasing the value of the imperfection amplitude-to-wall thickness ratio, Additionally the results indicated that the buckling load increased with increasing the fibre volume fraction. Finally, an equation was proposed to predict the buckling load of the CSM-GFRP cylindrical shells using nonlinear regression analysis.