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J. Compos. Sci.
Special Issues
Composite Thin-Walled Structures: Stability and Damage
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Composite Thin-Walled Structures: Stability and Damage

A special issue of Journal of Composites Science (ISSN 2504-477X). This special issue belongs to the section "Composites Modelling and Characterization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 February 2027 | Viewed by 2536

Editor

Dr. Navid Kharghani

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Lightweight Engineering and Structural Mechanics (LSM), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
Interests: Generalised Beam Theory (GBT); interlaminar stresses; composite beams and plates; delamination; composite-to-steel joints; fatigue and fracture

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Thin-walled composite and hybrid members are critical in lightweight structural systems, yet their anisotropy, layup sensitivity, and susceptibility to coupled deformation modes pose significant challenges in stability and damage tolerance. This Special Issue invites original research articles and reviews focused on the analysis, prediction, and experimental characterization of buckling, post-buckling behavior, vibration, fatigue, delamination, and fracture in such structures.

We particularly encourage contributions that bridge mechanics insight with computational efficiency and experimental validation. Topics of interest include: novel reduced-order modeling approaches—e.g., Generalized Beam Theory (GBT) and its extensions—for capturing global, distortional, local, and warping modes in anisotropic laminates; coupling of beam-level formulations with finite elements, XFEM, isogeometric analysis, or machine learning–assisted surrogates; studies on imperfection sensitivity, mode interaction, and damage progression (e.g., delamination under flexural–torsional loading); full-field experimental techniques (e.g., digital image correlation); and probabilistic or reliability-based design frameworks.

Applications span aerospace, civil infrastructure, marine, and renewable energy sectors, where durability and resilience are paramount. By bringing together theorists, computational modelers, and experimentalists, this Issue aims to consolidate current advances and identify future priorities for robust, sustainable design of composite thin-walled systems.

Dr. Navid Kharghani
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Composites Science is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • composite thin-walled structures
  • stability and buckling
  • damage and failure mechanisms
  • global–local mode interaction
  • reduced-order modeling

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 4062 KB  
Article
A Study on an Improved Fatigue Life Prediction Method for Type IV Cylinders
by Jinjie Lu and Chuanxiang Zheng
J. Compos. Sci. 2026, 10(6), 329; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs10060329 - 22 Jun 2026
Viewed by 502
Abstract
With the rapid development of the hydrogen economy, Type IV composite pressure vessels have emerged as the core components of on-board hydrogen storage systems. However, accurate fatigue life prediction remains a critical bottleneck limiting their design optimization and safe operation. Existing methods often [...] Read more.
With the rapid development of the hydrogen economy, Type IV composite pressure vessels have emerged as the core components of on-board hydrogen storage systems. However, accurate fatigue life prediction remains a critical bottleneck limiting their design optimization and safe operation. Existing methods often exhibit prediction errors exceeding ±50% due to the inherent scatter, anisotropy, and complex service environments of composites. This study proposes an improved simulation method for fatigue life prediction of Type IV cylinders. Systematic tension–tension fatigue tests were conducted on carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates at four ply angles (0°, ±15°, ±30°, ±45°) and PA6 liner at three temperatures (−30 °C, 25 °C, 82 °C) to establish comprehensive S-N curve databases. The results reveal that ply angle is the predominant factor governing CFRP fatigue performance, while temperature significantly influences PA6 behavior, and failure mode transitions from fiber fracture to matrix-dominated damage as ply angle increases. A fatigue analysis model was developed in nCode, incorporating the ply fatigue Algorithm to characterize the anisotropic fatigue behavior of CFRP overwraps. Full-scale validation on Type IV cylinders under cyclic pressure (2–87.5 MPa) confirmed the method’s effectiveness, achieving prediction errors of 11.5% and 35.3% for the two failed specimens, with failure locations well predicted. This study provides a rapid and reliable engineering calculation method and data support for the anti-fatigue design, safety assessment, and life management of Type IV cylinders. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Composite Thin-Walled Structures: Stability and Damage)
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22 pages, 6176 KB  
Article
Efficient Buckling Analysis of Thin-Walled Composite Beams with Symmetric and Unsymmetric Layups Using a GBT–Ritz Approach
by Navid Kharghani and Christian Mittelstedt
J. Compos. Sci. 2026, 10(6), 307; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs10060307 - 4 Jun 2026
Viewed by 1236
Abstract
Thin-walled composite beams with unsymmetric laminates are attracting increasing attention in lightweight aerospace and mechanical structures because they enable enhanced stiffness tailoring and weight reduction beyond the limitations of conventional symmetric stacking sequences. However, despite their practical relevance, unsymmetric thin-walled laminates have received [...] Read more.
Thin-walled composite beams with unsymmetric laminates are attracting increasing attention in lightweight aerospace and mechanical structures because they enable enhanced stiffness tailoring and weight reduction beyond the limitations of conventional symmetric stacking sequences. However, despite their practical relevance, unsymmetric thin-walled laminates have received comparatively limited attention in the available buckling literature due to the additional complexity introduced by membrane–bending coupling effects. This study presents an efficient and physically transparent formulation for the buckling analysis of thin-walled composite beams with both symmetric and unsymmetric layups by combining Generalized Beam Theory (GBT) with the Ritz method. The proposed GBT-Ritz framework captures global, local, distortional, torsional, and shear-related deformation modes while consistently incorporating laminate coupling effects associated with unsymmetric configurations. The formulation is applicable to open, closed, branched, and unbranched cross-sections commonly encountered in aerospace structures. Validation against ABAQUS V2017 shell finite element models demonstrates excellent agreement (with discrepancies generally below 6%) in predicting critical buckling loads and mode shapes for various geometries and boundary conditions. The results show that unsymmetric laminates can significantly influence buckling behavior, particularly in open sections and intermediate beam lengths where coupling effects become dominant. Compared with conventional finite element approaches, the proposed method achieves substantially lower computational cost (providing speed-up factors of 1.5 to 2.5) while preserving clear physical insight into interacting instability mechanisms. Overall, the developed framework provides an efficient and practically relevant tool for the analysis and design of advanced thin-walled composite structures with tailored unsymmetric laminates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Composite Thin-Walled Structures: Stability and Damage)
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