Investigation of Gap and Overlap Effects on the Buckling Load of Variable-Stiffness Composite Cylinders Under an External Hydrostatic Pressure and Pure Bending

• Published in: Mechanics of composite materials Vol. 59; no. 1; pp. 115 - 128
• Main Authors: Nopour, H., Ataabadi, A. Kabiri, Shokrieh, M. M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.03.2023; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aspect ratio; Bending; Buckling; Ceramics; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Classical Mechanics; Composite materials; Composites; Cylindrical shells; External pressure; Fiber orientation; Finite element method; Genetic algorithms; Glass; Hydrostatic pressure; Materials Science; Natural Materials; Optimization; Programming languages; Solid Mechanics; Stiffness; cylindrical shell; overlap; buckling; variable stiffness; gap
• ISSN: 0191-5665; 1573-8922
• DOI: 10.1007/s11029-023-10085-y

In the present research, the optimum paths and orientations for curvilinear and straight fibers of variable-and constant-stiffness composite cylindrical shells subjected to an external hydrostatic pressure and bending were found. For this purpose, a linear variation in the fiber orientation was considered for the curvilinear fibers. A genetic algorithm program written in the Python language was developed and linked to the ABAQUS finite-element code and used in an optimization process. The optimization was performed for several aspect ratios of the length-to-diameter of composite cylindrical shells. The buckling pressure of the variable-stiffness composite cylindrical shell increased by about 30℅ in comparison with that of the constant-stiffness composite cylindrical shell under an external hydrostatic pressure. The gaps and overlaps were modeled using a Pythonbased program and the ABAQUS software to investigate their effects on the buckling load of variable-stiffness cylindrical shells under external pressure loads.