Experimental and numerical investigation of composite conical shells

In this article, stability of composite conical shells subjected to dynamic external pressure is investigated by numerical and experimental methods. In experimental tests, cross-ply glass woven fabrics were selected for manufacturing of specimens. Hand-layup method was employed for fabricating the glassepoxy composite shells. A test-setup that includes pressure vessel and data acquisition system was designed. Also, numerical analyses are performed. In these analyses, effect of actual geometrical imperfections of experimental specimens on the numerical results is investigated. For introducing the imperfections to the numerical models, linear eigen-value buckling analyses were employed. The buckling modes are multiplied by very small numbers that are derived from measurement of actual specimens. Finally, results are compared together while a good agreement between results of imperfect numerical analyses and experimental tests is observed.