BUCKLING OF GENERALLY LAMINATED COMPOSITE PLATES WITH VARIOUS EDGE SUPPORT CONDITIONS

A total potential energy approach was employed in conjunction with the Rayleigh-Ritz method to study the stability behaviour of generally la minated composite plates with various edge support conditions. Classic al edge support conditions such as simple support, clamp or a combinat ion of both are imposed on the plate system and their effect on the pl ate's buckling behaviour are analysed thoroughly. Multi-term trigonome tric series functions are used in the postulation of the deflection fu nction to cater for the bending-twisting coupling responses which are dominant in symmetrically laminated composite plates. Detailed compari son of the 144-term solution obtained using the energy approach with t he exact solution for some classes of laminated composite plates subje cted to uniaxial compression and biaxial compression is presented to v erify the theoretical prediction of the present analysis. The effect o f the number of terms used in the postulation of the deflection functi on on the buckling behaviour is also discussed. Lastly, extensive comp arison with previously published experimental data for the case of C-C -C-C and C-S-C-S laminated composite plates is carried out and discuss ed.