Buckling Test of a 3-Meter-Diameter Corrugated Graphite-Epoxy
Abstract
A 3-m-diameter by 3-m-long corrugated cylindrical shell with external stiffening rings was tested to failure by buckling. The corrugation geometry for the graphite-epoxy composite cylinder wall was optimized to withstand a compressive load producing the relatively low maximum load intensity of 157.6 kN/m without buckling. The resulting mass per unit of shell-wall area, including stiffening rings and fasteners, 2 was 1.96 kg/sq m. The cylinder test-load achievement of 101 percent of design ultimate demonstrates a substantial mass-saving potential over available data for corrugated aluminum shell designs. Future space missions will require low-mass structures to achieve maximum payloads. For such structures that must carry compression loads without buckling, graphite-epoxy materials offer an attractive approach to providing the needed low-mass structural components. Preliminary design studies of lightly loaded shells, using minimum-mass structural-sizing codes, indicate that ring-stiffened graphite-epoxy corrugated shells can, like corrugated graphite epoxy panels offer a mass-saving potential of 20 to 40 percent over aluminum shell-wall design concepts. To evaluate the merits of a corrugated graphite-epoxy cylindrical shell and to develop a design data base for lightweight space structures, a program was initiated to design, fabricate, and test a 3-m-diameter by 3-m-long corrugated ring-stiffened graphite-epoxy cylinder. The preliminary design for the cylinder was generated using a minimum-mass structural-sizing code to carry an ultimate axial-compression loading intensity of 157.6 kN/m. The preliminary design for the shell was modified and verified by testing subcomponent specimens as described. The purpose of this paper is to present the results from the test of the cylinder. (MM)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1982
- Accession Number
- ADA302796
Entities
People
- Randall C. Davis
Organizations
- Langley Research Center