Abstract
We study buckling of inhomogeneous plates on a nonlinear elastic foundation. First we construct the elastic energy of a thin, compressively loaded inhomogeneous plate in which Young's modulus depends only on its thickness direction with the power law of the coordinate variable. Next we develop the linear stability analysis around the prebuckling state and derive the critical load and wavelength. Effects of material inhomogeneity on the critical state are discussed with the dispersion relation.
