The effects of cut-outs on lateral buckling behavior of laminated composite beams

This paper addresses the effects of different cutouts on the lateral buckling behavior of composite beams made of polymer matrix composites. Cut-outs like circular, rectangular, square, elliptical and triangular are generally used in composites as design requirements. This paper includes two parts; first part is an experimental part and second is a numerical part. In the experimental part, samples with square, circular and without cutouts are used and critical lateral buckling loads are determined experimentally. In the second part, finite element analysis is performed to predict the effects of different cutouts (square, circular, triangular and elliptical), location and size of cutouts on the lateral buckling behavior of the beam. The results show that cutout shape has important effect on the lateral buckling load. The elliptical cutout is the best and square cutout is the worst cutout type. It is also concluded that fiber orientation angle, cutout location and size affect the lateral buckling load.