LINEAR BUCKLING ANALYSIS OF LAMINATED COMPOSITE PLATES WITH VARIOUS CUT-OUT OPENINGS

Layers of plates are bonded together to form laminated composites. Citing ease in handling and reduced fabrication cost, laminated composites have been used in bridges, railway coaches and aircrafts. Excessive buckling and stresses have been the major reason of failure in these structures. Hence, analysis of behaviour of plates remains a major part in design. The most important design aspect for launch vehicles and aircraft is, the ability of plate to resist buckling upon application of inplane oads. Generally, provision of holes are for the purpose of pipes and electric cables in the laminar plates. The presence of holes attracts stress concentration at plane of discontinuity i.e. the portion near holes. In addition to this, the plate stiffness also greatly reduces at this portion. Hence the buckling behaviour of plate is very important In this study, laminated composite with triangular, square and circular openings were used as a basis for analysis. In addition, the study has incorporated the effects of boundary conditions, cut-out, shape and length/thickness ratio.