Measurement techniques for buckling sensitive composite shells

This paper describes a measurement system that was developed for an experimental study on buckling of glass reinforced composite cylinders. An automated non-contact laser device operating inside the test specimen provided a three dimensional scanning system for measuring the deformation of the shell wall. The measurement system was used to obtain the initial geometric imperfections, as well as the deformation under varying control axial displacement. All loading and data acquisition operations were carried out using advanced computer controlled techniques. Due to the large number of measurements undertaken in each test, data collection was followed by processing and reduction techniques, thus delivering the data in a form suitable for finite element analysis and comparative studies. Typical results are presented in order to demonstrate the reliability, accuracy and versatility of the system.