A Numerical Model for Post-Buckling Analysis of Composite Shear Webs

This paper presents a detailed numerical investigation of the post-buckling behavior of composite shear webs using the finite element method. The numerical analysis accounts for material and geometric non-linearity effects and has been divided into three steps. The first step consists of computing the critical buckling loads as well as their corresponding buckling modes. Geometric imperfections described approximately in terms of linear combinations of different normal modes are then introduced into the model. Finally a quasi-static analysis is carried out including a progressive failure model. The progressive failure model has been implemented as a user defined material model within shell elements in Abaqus/Explicit (R) finite element code.