Experimental study of the buckling of laminated composite columns and plates

Summary The aim of this study was to obtain experimental methods for determining critical loads of columns and square plates made of composite materials (boron or glass fibres in an epoxy or aluminium matrix). The structures were loaded in compression with definite boundary conditions and were studied by the Southwell plot static method and a dynamical method, namely the change of transverse natural frequencies. Both the methods were found to be accurate, however, the static method was less sensitive to structural imperfections.