Author(s)

S. Syngellakis

Abstract

A numerical analysis, based on the boundary element method, is proposed for predicting the buckling behaviour of asymmetrically laminated, anisotropic plates. The modelling accounts for the coupling between bending and in-plane extension, which characterises the constitutive relations of such plates. The problem is formulated in terms of the in-plane displacements and transverse deflection using the fundamental solutions of the uncoupled in-plane extension and bending problems governing the behaviour of symmetrically laminated plates. As a consequence, irreducible domain integrals appear in the derived integral equations; this necessitates the adoption of domain in-plane strains and curvatures as unknown variables and the concomitant derivation of additional integral equations. Thus both problems governing the pre-buckling state as well as the buckling mode and critical load comprise consistent systems of equations. The high-order singularity of certain domain integrals is addressed and a comparison is made between the present analysis and that formulated in terms of the stress function and transverse deflection. Keywords: laminates, bending-stretching coupling, buckling, in-plane displacements, boundary elements.

Keywords

laminates, bending-stretching coupling, buckling, in-plane displacements, boundary elements