Buckling behaviors of laminated composite stepped flat columns

The paper deals with the theoretical prediction of buckling loads for symmetric angle-ply and cross-ply laminated flat composite columns, consisting of two portions of different widths connected by fillets. The buckling loads of the column under axial compression were obtained for the following end conditions: simply supported, simply-clamped, clamped-clamped, and clamped free. Based on the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT), finite elements method (FEM) with FORTRAN computer language was exploited to obtain the critical buckling loads. The effects of orientation angles, fillet radius, column thickness and wideness, and modulus ratios on the buckling load were investigated. The results were presented in both graphical and tabular forms.