Probing the stability landscape of thin-walled composite cylinders

Thin-walled cylinders under axial compression are prone to buckling at a load lower than classical analysis would predict due to the imperfection sensitivity of such architectures. Accurate prediction of the buckling load typically requires a priori knowledge of the specific imperfection signature of the manufactured
component. Without knowledge of the as-manufactured imperfection, robust design of axially-compressed thin-walled cylinders relies on conservative knockdown factors or computationally intensive probabilistic analyses. As an alternative experimental approach, the bifurcation load of a manufactured cylinder can be predicted by investigating the stability landscape through a lateral poking force. By increasing the axial load applied to a cylinder and measuring the changing reaction force of a displacement-controlled poker, the maximum load limit can be non-destructively extrapolated. The present work covers the theory and method of implementing the experimental procedure on a thin-walled composite cylinder.