Finite strip buckling analysis of some composite stiffened box sections

The buckling behavior of composite stiffened boxes beams under pure compression was investigated using a finite strip approach. It was found that the optimum fiber orientation for stiffeners and the optimum stiffener shape have great dependency on the buckling mode of the section. It was observed that when the buckling mode is global, the unidirectional stiffners and the blade stiffners are more appropriate. It was suggested that the use of the developed finite strip method code allows designers to specify the optimum stiffener size for a given layup configuration.