BUCKLING OF GENERALLY LAMINATED COMPOSITE PLATES WITH VARIOUS EDGE SUPPORT CONDITIONS

A total potential energy approach was employed in conjunction with the Rayleigh-Ritz method to study the stability behaviour of generally laminated composite plates with various edge support conditions. Classical edge support conditions such as simple support, clamp or a combination of both are imposed on the plate system and their effect on the plate's buckling behaviour are analysed thoroughly. Multi-term trigonometric series functions are used in the postulation of the deflection function to cater for the bending-twisting coupling responses which are dominant in symmetrically laminated composite plates. Detailed comparison of the 144-term solution obtained using the energy approach with the exact solution for some classes of laminated composite plates subjected to uniaxial compression and biaxial compression is presented to verify the theoretical prediction of the present analysis. The effect of the number of terms used in the postulation of the deflection function on the buckling behaviour is also discussed. Lastly, extensive comparison with previously published experimental data for the case of C-C-C-C and C-S-C-S laminated composite plates is carried out and discussed.