Abstract
The present study deals with the imperfection-sensitive non-linear buckling behavior of cylindrical sandwich shells consisting of a steel core bonded with FRP skins. Steel cylindrical shells when exposed to the marine environments show their vulnerability to corrosion. When carbon fiber reinforced polymer are collectively used for corroded steel shells, the mechanical and anti-corrosive properties as a new composite structure will increase tremendously. This paper discusses the effects of imperfections on the nonlinear buckling under axial loading and also proposes an alternative conservative design estimation technique based upon the so-called reduced stiffness buckling theory.
