Effect of Layer Thickness in Buckling of Sandwich Plates Subjected to Different Types of In-Plane Loadings

Sandwich plates consist of a thick and light core layer between thin face layers on the outer surfaces. They are widely used in marine and aerospace structures because of their advantageous mechanical properties and light weights. In this study, the critical buckling loads in different types of in-plane loading, which are important parameters for the design of plate structures, are investigated separately for sandwich plates at different layer thicknesses and boundary conditions. In the calculations, the upper and lower face layer thicknesses of the sandwich plates are assumed to be the same. The material at the face sheets is steel and at the middle core, end-grain balsa wood is used. Considered sandwich plates were analyzed using ANSYS finite element software and the classical thin plate theory assumptions are assumed for the solution. Some of the results obtained were verified with those in the literature and it was concluded that the results were in good agreement. Another result of the study is about the boundary conditions; the sandwich plates simply supported on four sides is the optimal design among the examined boundary conditions. From the results obtained, it has also been demonstrated that the effect of boundary conditions decreases as the difference between the loads normal to the axes acting in-plane increases. Although the total plate thickness is the same, it was concluded that the different face and core layer thicknesses also affect the buckling behavior of sandwich plates. It is concluded that when the face layer thickness of the sandwich plate increases, its strength to the buckling increases.