A STUDY ON THERMAL POSTBUCKLING BEHAVIOR OF LAMINATED COMPOSITE PLATES USING A SHEAR-FLEXIBLE FINITE-ELEMENT

This paper deals with a nonlinear finite element formulation for study ing the postbuckling behaviour of laminated plates induced by a unifor m/nonuniform temperature field. The thermal stress analysis is carried out for the nonuniformly distributed temperature loading over the pla te before solving the buckling problem. The formulation is based on th e Reissner-Mindlin first order shear deformation theory. The nonlinear ity due to moderately large deformation of the plate is included in th e formulation. Deflection-load relationships are obtained through an i terative method. An element based on C degrees continuity developed re cently is used to investigate the postbuckling/secondary instability b ehaviour of the laminates. Detailed numerical results based on various parameters are presented for cross-ply and angle-ply laminated compos ite plates with different boundary conditions. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scien ce B.V.