Thermal Buckling Analysis Of Laminated Composite Plate With Square/Rectangular, Elliptical/Circular Cutout

Abstract

A numerical study was conducted using the finite element method to determine the effects of square and rectangular cutouts on the thermal buckling behavior of a 16-ply quasi-isotropic graphite/epoxy symmetrically laminated rectangular composite plates. This study addresses the effects of the size of the square/rectangular cutout, elliptical/circular cutout, orientation of the rectangular /elliptical cutout, plate aspect ratio (a/b), and plate length/thickness ratio (a/t) on the thermal buckling behavior of the symmetrically laminated rectangular composite plate .Thermal Buckling temperatures were computed for seven different quasi-isotropic laminate configurations [0°/+45°/-45°/90°]2s, [15°/+60°/-30°/-75°]2s, [30°/+75°/-15°/-60°]2s, [45°/+90°/0°/-45°]2s, [60°/-75°/+15°/-30°]2s, [75°/-60°/+30°/-15°]2s, [90°/-45°/+45/°0°]2s. Results showed that the magnitudes of the critical buckling temperatures increase with increasing cutout positioned angle as well as c/b and d/b ratios for plates with a square/rectangular cutout, elliptical/circular cutout. The symmetrically laminated quasi-isotropic [75°/-60°/+30°/-15°]2s composite plate have highest critical buckling temperatures than all other symmetrically analyzed laminated quasi-isotropic composite plates. The magnitudes of the thermal buckling loads of a rectangular composite plate with square/rectangular cutout, elliptical/circular cutout decrease with increasing plate aspect ratio (a/b) and plate length/thickness (a/t) ratio.