Buckling of Laminated Elliptical and Super-Elliptical Thin Plates

Abstract

In this computational study the buckling analysis of symmetrically laminated elliptical and super-elliptical thin plates was carried out. The plates were considered as clamped or simply supported at the boundary. The minimum buckling load was determined using the Rayleigh-Ritz method and the Galerkin Method based on the Classical Laminated Plate Theory (CLPT). The influence of the solution methods, shape functions, boundary conditions, super-elliptical power, lamination type, aspect ratio, and thickness on the critical buckling load were investigated using a parametric study. The verification of the isotropic case was performed comparing some results in the open literature, and good agreement was obtained. Convergence studies of the composite case with increasing terms (up to 10 terms) were achieved and sufficient accuracy was provided. During the preliminary design stage of composite structures, many design parameters such as panel sizes, panel thickness, stacking sequences, boundary conditions and loading conditions are taken into consideration. It is possible to evaluate these parameters quickly by using appropriate shape functions with the Rayleigh-Ritz method.