2003 Volume 52 Issue 6 Pages 612-618
In the present study, a widely acceptable buckling analysis was proposed for the symmetrically laminated composite plates by introducing both the pb-2 Ritz displacement functions to represent an arbitrary edge condition and the higher-order shear deformation theory. At the same time, the bucking analysis was conducted for the angle-ply symmetric laminates subjected to biaxial compression, shear or combined loading. As a result, it was confirmed that the proposed method for bucking analysis was effective one, and the very accurate result of buckling load was obtained due to the consideration of the higher-order shear deformation. Then, based on the proposed method the effects of loading conditions, boundary supports, material anisotropy and plate thickness on the buckling load were investigated and the optimum lamination angle for the buckling load was calculated. Furthermore, the buckling mode with three dimensional representation was obtained, and this provided a useful way for the buckling analysis and buckling prediction.
