Flexural-torsional buckling of FRP thin-walled composite with various sections

Abstract

The flexural-torsional buckling of thin-walled pultruded fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) members composed of unstiffened, stiffened cruciform- and I-shaped sections under uniform compressive loads was investigated using finite element methods (FEM). As the basic method, an eigenvalue solution using the minimum potential energy method was utilized to obtain the critical buckling stress and buckling mode shapes. FEM results were compared with the closed-form solutions and literature results. Furthermore, a parametric study was carried out to investigate the different cross-section geometries and span lengths on the critical buckling stresses and buckling mode shapes, that is, flexural, torsional, or mixed buckling.

Keywords

• fiber-reinforced plastic members
• flexural-torsional mode
• linear stability analysis
• pultruded thin-walled members