CRITICAL LOCAL BUCKLING STRESS OF PULTRUDED RECTANGULAR HOLLOW SECTIONS

Abstract

The increasing popularity of pultruded fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) sections is attributed to two factors: corrosion resistance and high strength to weight ratio. The major drawback of this technology is that compared to traditional construction materials such as concrete and steel, it has not been fully developed. Additionally, the high strength of pultruded FRP sections limits them to only small section thicknesses, making them prone to instabilities caused by local buckling. The main aim of the project is to develop explicit empirical equations that can be used to determine the elastic critical local buckling stress of RHS (Rectangular Hollow Section) sections. To achieve this, a Finite Strip model using CUFSM will be created to help determine the elastic critical buckling stress of RHS sections subjected to compression and major axis bending. Then, parametric studies to investigate the effect of parameters such as section aspect ratio and material properties on the elastic critical local buckling stress will be conducted. Tow solutions were considered in this study for the sections in major axis bending. In the first solution, Cardoso’s equations for the compression were modified to be compatible with the major axis bending case. While in the second solution, Seif and Schafer’s equation was modified to be well-suited with the orthotropic case