Buckling and post-buckling of a ferromagnetic beam-plate induced by magnetoelastic interactions

Buckling and post-buckling behavior of a soft ferromagnetic beam-plate with unmovable simple supports under an applied magnetic field is analyzed by t aking into account the non-linear effect of large deflections based on the von Karman model of plates. The study shows that buckling is proceeded by b ending only if the applied magnetic field forms an incident angle with the normal of the plate. The characteristics of buckling and post-buckling are explored by numerical analysis. In particular, the numerical solution shows that, when the applied magnetic field is oblique, the plate snapps from a whole wave configuration into a half-wave configuration as buckling/snappin g occurs, and that the magnetoelastic buckling strength increases with the increasing oblique angle. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserve d.