Finite Element Assessment of the Buckling of Composite Grid Stiffened Cylinders Under Axial Compressive Force

Nowadays, composite grid stiffened cylindrical shells are used widely in advanced industries such as aerospace and marine structures. In practical situations, these structures may be subjected to axial compressive forces. Hence, investigation of the buckling is important. In this study, the buckling behavior of composite grid stiffened cylinders with hexagonal cell arrays under compressive axial force is simulated numerically. For this purpose, finite element models are made and solved in ABAQUS/Explicit software. Three different models of the same geometrical parameters are meshed separately using C3D8R (solid), SC8R (continuum shell) and S4R (conventional shell) elements. Buckling is simulated by applying the quasi-static axial force and critical loads are obtained for each element type. The results of force-displacement diagram and the critical buckling force are validated by the experimental results reported in the literature and close agreements are obtained. Finally, the accuracy of the results and CPU run-time for each element type are compared and discussions are made.