Factors influencing the elastic stability of orthotropic plates containing a rectangular cut-out

A parametric study of the elastic buckling loads for rectangular orthotropic plates with square or rectangular cut-outs has been carried out. The effect of cut-out size, cut-out location and orientation of principal material directions were all investigated, as well as the effects of changing the material modular ratio and shear modulus. Simply supported and fully fixed boundaries were both considered. The analyses employed the conjugate load-displacement method for elastic instability analysis applied to element discretization of the plates. The main conclusion from this work was confirmation that the presence of a hole could equally well raise the elastic critical load just as much as lower it, depending on the hole size, shape and location and also the aspect ratio of the plate, From the viewpoint of material properties, it was found that the shear modulus, an independent property for orthotropic materials, has a major influence on the critical load.