BUCKLING OF COMPOSITE LAMINATED PLATE SUBJECTED TO THERMAL ENVIRONMENT USING HIGHER ORDER SHEAR AND NORMAL DEFORMATION THEORY

Analytical solution for the thermal buckling analysis of the simply supported composite laminated plates based on higher order theory is presented. Analytical model presented herein incorporates shear deformation as well as transverse normal strains which eliminate the need of shear correction factor to rectify the unrealistic variation of shear stress through thickness. Primary displacement field is expanded in the thickness direction using eleven degrees of freedom. Equilibrium equations in the present higher order shear and normal deformation theory (HOSNT11) are variationally consistent and obtained using principle of virtual work. Numerical results of critical temperature are compared with three-dimensional (3D) elasticity solution and other two-dimensional (2D) models.