Thermomechanical coupling damage and analysis of buckling load of laser irradiated CFRP cylinder shell under axial load

This study aims to analyze the effect of thermomechanical coupling damage caused by laser irradiation on a Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) cylindrical shell with axial compression using finite element method (FEM). The quasi-static thermomechanical coupling damage process of a typical CFRP structure was studied intensively. First, a thermomechanical coupling model was established, then the influence of the size of the laser spot, the thickness of the shell and the different exposure location of the laser spot on the critical buckling load (CBL) were investigated. The results show that the value of CBL decreases near quadratically as the shell thickness decreases. The value of CBL decreases nonlinearly with increase of the spot size. The CBL decreases and then increases until the laser reaches the midpoint of cylinder axis as the laser moves along the axial direction of the cylinder; the CBL decreases dramatically as the laser deviates from the axis.