Critical buckling load prediction of composite cylinders by usingvarious shell theories and FEM under compressive loading

In this manuscript, critical buckling load of thin-walled composite cylinders under axial compressive load are obtained from the Sanders-Koiter and Donnell's shell theories and compared with the finite element results extractedby non-linear arc length incrementation method. Cylinders which are examined had a certain stacking sequence of [± /± / ]s and simply supported boundary conditions with different R/t and L/R ratios.predicted results by various analytical and FE methods do not revealed acceptable consistency for the fiber orientations between 10 to 85 degrees, however for fiber orientations between 0 to 10 and 85 to 90 degrees they showed acceptablecorrelation. In addition, it was shown that increasing R/t ratios to the values more than of 550, resulted in inconsistency reduction of Donnell's theory results with Sanders-Koiter theory and FEM.