Buckling Behavior of Long Symmetrically Laminated Plates Subjected to Combined Loadings

A parametric study is presented of the buckling behavior of in nitely long, symmetrically laminated anisotropic plates subjected to combined loadings. The loading conditions considered are axial tension and compression, transverse tension and compression, and shear. Results obtained using a special-purpose analysis, well-suited for parametric studies, are presented for clamped and simply supported plates. Moreover, results are presented for some common laminate constructions, and generic buckling design charts are presented for a wide range of parameters. The generic design charts are presented in terms of useful nondimensional parameters, and the dependence of the nondimensional parameters on laminate ber orientation, stacking sequence, and material properties is discussed. An important nding of the study is that the e ects of anisotropy are much more pronounced in shear-loaded plates than in compressionloaded plates. In addition, the e ects of anisotropy on plates subjected to combined loadings are generally manifested as a phase shift of selfsimilar buckling interaction curves. A practical application of this phase shift is that the buckling resistance of long plates can be improved by applying a shear loading with a speci c orientation. In all cases considered in the study, the buckling coe cients of in nitely long plates are found to be independent of the bending sti ness ratio (D11=D22) .