Prediction of Buckling-Induced Delamination Growth Onset in Composite Laminates

A one-dimensional analytical solution to predict buckling-induced delamination growth was developed toward an efficient and effective engineering application. The postbuckling solution for a composite beam was first obtained with nonlinear deflection approximations based on 'thin film' assumption. An interlaminar stress analysis method was then...

Semi-analytical solutions for buckling and post-buckling of composite plates: Application to stiffened Panels

This MSc thesis addresses the study of buckling and post-buckling of composite plates with elastic restraints at the edges and under any combination of in-plane loading, aiming to solve the plate response in stiffened panel structures. The implemented solutions are based on thin plate theory for mid-plane symmetric plates. The governing...

The assessment of wrinkling and large deformation post-wrinkling of metallic shell structures

Localized buckles can occur in crashes when compressive stresses are dominant. However, due to their local appearance, they might be overlooked by a finite element analysis, meaning that local failure due to buckling will not be predicted. Methods to analytically assess the onset of such buckles are readily available. However, an off-the-shelf...

Modelling Delaminations in Composite Panels: Including Novel Theories for Post-Buckling and Delamination Growth

Even though composite materials are being applied more and more often, these materials are often not used to their full potential. In particular, composite materials are very sensitive to Compression-After-Impact (CAI), typically leading to knockdown factors in the order of 0.65. Many researchers have tried to predict the effects of Compression...

An innovative approach towards solving the problem of trailing edge buckling of large wind turbine rotor blades

As a result of the increasing mass of rotor blades for large wind turbines, trailing edge buckling is recognized to become one of the critical design drivers. This research project was initiated to investigate a new trailing edge design concept, which is supposed to have a higher buckling capacity, while maintaining its structural performance,...

Semi-Analytical Solution to Buckling of Variable-Stiffness Composite Panels (Plates and Shallow Cylindrical Shells)

Variable-stiffness panels have previously shown enhanced buckling performance compared to constant-stiffness panels, due to the beneficial load and stiffness redistribution. Two semianalytical models based on the Galerkin method and the Ritz method have been developed in order to solve the buckling problem of variable-stiffness composite panels ...