Mechanical and thermal buckling analysis of laminated composite plates

Abstract

The mechanical and thermal buckling analysis of laminated composite plates is presented in this document. Different theories of thick plates taking into account the parabolic distribution of transverse shear stresses and satisfying the condition of zero shear stresses on the top and bottom surfaces without using shear correction factor are presented and a comparison between the results obtained by these theories is also illustrated. The high order nonlinear stress-displacement relation of the plates was taken into consideration. The principle of potential energy is used to obtain the equations of equilibrium. The closed-form solutions of symmetric and antisymmetric cross-ply are obtained using Navier solution. Using math software Maple, the temperatures and the critical loads of buckling are determined. Finally, a parametric study of the influence of the various parameters such as: mode of buckling, the geometrical ratios a / b and a / h, Young's modulus, Coefficient of thermal expansion, loading type, the orientation of the fibers and the number of layers on the critical buckling temperature and the critical buckling charge is shown and discussed. Numerical results indicate that deformation due to transverse shear has a significant effect on both mechanical and thermal behavior of buckling of laminated simply supported plates.