DYNAMIC BUCKLING OF LAMINATED ANISOTROPIC SPHERICAL CAPS

The dynamic axisymmetric behavior of clamped laminated composite spher ical caps subjected to suddenly applied loads is investigated using an eight-noded quadrilateral doubly curved shear flexible shell element based on the field-consistency approach. Geometric nonlinearity is con sidered using von Karman's strain-displacement relations. The solution is obtained using the Wilson-theta numerical integration scheme. The pressure corresponding to a sudden jump in the maximum average deflect ion in the time history of the shell structure is taken as dynamic buc kling pressure. A detailed parametric study is carried out to bring ou t the effects of shell geometries and material properties, number of l ayers, lamination schemes, and type of loading on a dynamic buckling l oad.