Lateral buckling of pultruded GRP I-section cantilevers

A series of lateral buckling tests on pultruded GRP I-section cantilever beams is described. Comparisons of the theoretical critical loads, determined from approximate formulae and numerical finite element eigenvalue analysis, with the test results are presented. They reveal that linear buckling analysis does not provide an accurate estimate, for use in design, of the maximum tip load that a GRP cantilever may support. It is concluded that both initial deflections and pre-buckling deformations may need to be accounted for in order to model accurately the response of tip loaded pultruded GRP cantilevers.