Post-Buckling Behaviour of a Multi-Stable Composite Stiffened Specimen under Low-Cycle Fatigue – A Preliminary Study

Post-Buckling Behaviour of a Multi-Stable Composite Stiffened Specimen under Low-Cycle Fatigue – A Preliminary Study

Xi LI, Chiara BISAGNI

Abstract. This study experimentally investigates the effect of low-cycle fatigue loading on the evolution of buckling modes in a specimen consisting of a composite skin and four metallic stringers. The specimen was designed to achieve multiple stable configurations under compression through a tailored lay-up configuration that enables bucking to initiate in the thinner region and subsequently expand to the thicker region. The results indicate that the designed specimen was able of switching among different buckling modes under low-cycle fatigue loading. However, the skin-stringer separation was observed during high-amplitude fatigue loading.

Keywords
Buckling Mode-Switching, Composite Laminates, Compression, Digital Image Correlation

Published online 7/20/2026, 4 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA

Citation: Xi LI, Chiara BISAGNI, Post-Buckling Behaviour of a Multi-Stable Composite Stiffened Specimen under Low-Cycle Fatigue – A Preliminary Study, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 69, pp 1246-1249, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644904251-215

The article was published as article 215 of the book CEAS – AIDAA Conference 2025

Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.

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