Thermal postbuckling analysis of imperfect laminated plates on softening non-linear elastic foundations

A thermal postbuckling analysis is presented for a simply supported, composite laminated plate subjected to uniform or non-uniform parabolic temperature loading and resting on a softening non-linear elastic foundation. The formulation is based on the classical laminated plate theory and includes the plate-foundation interaction and thermal effects. The analysis uses a mixed Galerkin-perturbation technique to determine thermal buckling loads and postbuckling equilibrium paths, taking initial geometrical imperfections into account. Numerical examples cover the performance of perfect and imperfect, antisymmetric angle-ply and symmetric cross-ply laminated plates. Typical results are presented in dimensionless graphical form for different parameters and exhibit interesting imperfection sensitivity, e.g. the thermal postbuckling equilibrium path can be unstable. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Limited.