Buckling and Post-Buckling of Thin-Walled Composite Laminated Beams—A Review of Engineering Analysis Methods

Abstract

Thin-walled beams made of laminated composite materials are increasingly used in any engineering branch where structural weight is one of the major aspects in the design process of load bearing structures. Quite naturally, when composite materials are being employed, analysis methods are required that adequately take effects such as material anisotropy, coupling effects, and shear deformations into account which are inherent to this class of materials. This paper aims to provide an overview of engineering analysis methods concerning the buckling and post-buckling behavior of thin-walled composite laminated beams, covering topics such as exact and closed-form analytical approximate solutions as well as semi-analytical and numerical methods wherein a distinction is made between local and global buckling of beam structures, and the interaction of global and local buckling modes. This paper also covers an overview of experimental investigations as well as of design optimization studies and closes with an outlook on future investigations.