Buckling of axially compressed CFRP truncated cones with additional lateral load: Experimental and numerical investigation

The Single Perturbation Load Approach (SPLA) is an alternative proposal for a deterministic procedure for the design of thin-walled cylinders and cones under axial compression that accounts for geometric imperfections. The study deals with the buckling experiments on axially compressed, unstiffened carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) truncated cones with an additional lateral load, performed by DLR for validation of the SPLA applied to this type of structure. Three geometrically identical cones with different layup were designed, manufactured and tested. During testing a digital image correlation system was employed and load-shortening data is extracted. The experimental results are compared with the FEA results.