Thermomechanical buckling of multilayered composite plates

A study is made of the thermomechanical buckling of composite plates subjected to combined thermal and axial loadings. The plates considered consist of a number of perfectly bonded layers and have symmetric lamination with respect to the middle plane. The material properties are assumed to be independent of temperature. The analysis is based on a first-order shear deformation theory. A mixed formulation is used, with the fundamental unknowns consisting of the generalized displacements and the stress resultants of the plate. An efficient multiple-parameter reduction method is used, in conjunction with mixed finite-element models, for determining the stability boundary of the plate. Sensitivity derivatives are evaluated and used to study the sensitivity of the buckling response to variations in different lamination and material parameters of the plate. Numerical results are presented that show the effectiveness of the reduction method, as well as the effects of variations in the material characteristics and fiber orientation of individual layers on the stability boundary of the plate.