Effect of interfacial imperfection on buckling and bending behavior of composite laminates

The problem of modeling elastic behavior of geometrically imperfect laminated composite plates is addressed, with particular attention paid to the effects of interfacial weakness. A spring-layer model is employed to characterize the weakened interfaces, and a van Karman-type nonlinear theory is developed, taking into account the initial geometric imperfection. The proposed theory includes the recently well-developed third-order zigzag theory as a special case. The displacement-based and mixed governing equations are shown to contain five and four unknowns, respectively. Simple numerical results are given to illustrate the effects of interfacial weakness on the buckling and bending behavior of laminated composite plates.