Buckling performance of stiffened polymer composite cylindrical shell

•The buckling of carbon fiber composite cylindrical shells with annular ribs under external pressure is investigated numerically and experimentally.•The effects of rib cross-sections, rib geometry and distribution on buckling load and buckling mode are explored.•The overall stability of the ribbed CF-CCS is sensitive to the rib section parameters, distance and thickness-radius ratio.•The numerical results obtained by nonlinear buckling analysis agree well with the experimental results. The buckling of carbon fiber composite cylindrical shells (CF-CCSs) with annular ribs under external pressure was investigated numerically and experimentally. The effects of rib cross-sections, rib geometry and distribution on buckling load and buckling mode were analyzed numerically. In addition, the ribbed polymer composite cylindrical shell was fabricated and tested. The geometry, thickness, buckling load and final collapse mode of the ribbed polymer composite cylindrical shell were measured. Finally, a nonlinear buckling analysis with geometrical imperfections was carried out based on the measured data; the numerical results were in agreement with the experimental results. The results show that different rib cross-sections have limited influence on the load carrying capacity of CF-CCSs, but the distribution of the ribs and the geometry of the ribs have a greater influence on CF-CCSs.