Local Buckling of Composite Laminated Plate Assemblies Using the Spline Finite Strip Method

Abstract

An analysis of the local buckling of composite laminated plates and folded plate assemblies subjected to arbitrary loading is presented. The analysis uses the spline finite strip method, which utilises B3-spline functions for the longitudinal variation of buckling displacements, and an interpolation of Hermitian polynomials for the buckling displacements in the transverse direction. While the spline finite strip method is fairly well-known in buckling analysis, its direct application to the local buckling of composite laminates has been more limited. The method is programmed to study the local buckling of laminated flat plates and L-sections. Examples of the accuracy of the method compared with independent studies, and the influence of increasing the number of lengthwise section knots, are presented for plates of finite length that are subjected to compression, bending and shear.