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DESIGN AND VALIDATION OF IMPERFECTION TOLERANT LAMINATED SHELL STRUCTURES

Objective


The major achievements of the project are:

1. The development and validation of guidelines against buckling for the design of imperfection-tolerant, laminated, cylindrical shells.
2. The recommendation of procedures for performing buckling tests on laminated, composite shells
3. The evaluation of the effect of imperfections on buckling of shells
4. The validation, through buckling experiments, of analytical and numerical tools for predicting buckling.
The lack of generally applicable design criteria for composite structures is an important factor that inhibits the efficient use of composite materials in industries such as construction,marine and aerospace. This is particularly true in the case of buckling strength prediction of composite shell structures,where many important factors influencing buckling behaviour are not fully understood,thus forcing the use of unduly high safety factors and reducing the overall structural efficiency. This project is aimed at producing guidelines for the buckling design of Imperfection-tolerant composite shell structures under combined loading. First an adequate number of simple shell specimens, manufactured with different techniques, materials and geometries will be tested,while numerical/analytical models will be benchmarked and validated against the test results. A numerical parametric study, performed to cover a wider range of parameters,such as geometries and loading ratios,will produce a first draft of design guidelines.

These will enable ,during the second phase,the design,manufacturing and testing of realistic parts of industrial structures. The results of this phase will lead to the final formulation of the design guidelines. It is considered that this project will be directly useful for the development of codes of practice for composite structures by the European Standards Commission(CEN),mainly in the standardization of test procedures,in manufacturing specifications and in the application of limit state principles in the area of composite shell buckling. Thus, economic gains in the order of 15% can be achieved, due to the considerable reduction in the development time and costs of composite shell structures,as well as due to the structural weight savings incurred.

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Funding Scheme

CSC - Cost-sharing contracts

Coordinator

INST MECHANICS OF MAT. & GEOSTRUC.
Address
Askiton str.,22
15236 Pendeli
Greece

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Last update: 21 September 1994

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Permalink: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/BRE20962

European Union, 2023