Compressive response of tapered composite shells

Tapered composite shells provide considerable weight and energy savings in the engineering applications. Due to the advanced configurations of tapered composite shells and their complex behavior, closed-form analytical solutions are not available at present regarding their response to compressive loading. In the present work, approximate analytical solutions are developed using the Ritz method for the global buckling response of tapered shells considering uni-axial compression. Buckling analysis of the shells is carried out using the Ritz method based on six well-established First-order shear deformation Shell Theories (FST). The failure strength characteristics and load carrying capability of the above mentioned tapered shells are studied considering the first-ply failure. Based on the failure and buckling analyses, the critical values of size and shape parameters of the shells such that they will fail only in global buckling mode are determined. A comprehensive parametric study is carried out and design guidelines for the tapered shells are established based on this study.