LOCAL BUCKLING OF DELAMINATED BEAMS AND PLATES USING CONTINUOUS ANALYSIS

The study presents a continuous analysis method for determining the bu ckling load of delaminated beams and plates. Investigations include be am-plates with end rotational restraints using the Stokes' transformat ion technique and orthotropic plates with simple supports. The analysi s allows structures to have a multiple number of delaminations of vari ous shapes and sizes, and at any locations. The method treats the disc ontinuous structure as a body without delamination but with a force sy stem added at a number of discrete points in the delaminated region so as to make the net interfacial tractions to vanish at these points. H ence, the procedure solves problems of delaminated structures directly as a continuous system. Fourier series in conjunction with the Stokes ' transformation is used which provides a unified solution for problem s with different end conditions. Numerical results accounting for the effects of delamination length, location and shape; boundary condition s and stiffness of adhesive layer, to the local buckling load are pres ented for illustrative purposes. The method of analysis presented in t he study is simple in concept, yet so effective and accurate in solvin g such discontinuous structures which would otherwise be extremely dif ficult if not impossible to analyze.