SPLINE FINITE STRIP ANALYSIS OF THE BUCKLING AND VIBRATION OF RECTANGULAR COMPOSITE LAMINATED PLATES

A spline finite strip capability is presented for predicting the buckl ing stresses and natural frequencies of rectangular laminated plates. The plates may have arbitrary lay-ups and general boundary conditions. The spline finite strip method is first developed in the context of f irst-order shear deformation plate theory and then, by reduction, the method is also developed in the context of classical plate theory. In both approaches the superstrip concept is incorporated into the soluti on procedure. A considerable range of types of application is describe d and it is demonstrated that the spline finite strip method is versat ile, with good convergence characteristics and accuracy. In these appl ications, frequent comparison is made with the results of other approa ches which comprise a spline Rayleigh-Ritz method, a finite element me thod, an analytical Rayleigh-Ritz method and a semi-analytical finite strip method.