Thermomechanical buckling of delaminated composite laminates

A thermomechanical buckling analysis of multilayered laminates with (across-the-width) strip delaminations is conducted on the basis-of anisotropic thermoelasticity of the constituent layers and the Kirchhoff-Love hypothesis of the classical laminate theory. With the assumption of generalized plane deformation, the present analysis yields exact, closed-form solutions of the delamination model under in-plane compression and shear loads and a temperature load that may vary arbitrarily in the thickness direction. A characteristic equation is obtained for the thermal and mechanical load parameters associated with the stales of bifurcation. This equation reveals explicitly the effects of various geometrical, material and load parameters on the buckling of the delaminated prate. The solutions of the characteristic equation indicate that a moderate temperature gradient in the thickness direction may drastically reduce the axial bifurcation road. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.