Influence of corner stresses on the stability characteristics of composite skew plates

Stability characteristics of composite skew plates subjected to in-plane compressive load are investigated here using the shear deformable finite element approach. The influences of high prebuckling stresses at the corner regions of isotropic and composite skew plates on their stability characteristics are emphasized for different load direction, boundary condition and laminate stacking sequence. The non-linear governing equations based on von Karman's assumptions are solved by Newton-Raphson technique to get the hitherto unreported postbuckling equilibrium paths of composite skew plates loaded between two rigid flat platens. The variation of out-of-plane deformation and end-shortening with compressive in-plane load are examined for simply supported and clamped skew plates made of isotropic, symmetric and unsymmetric laminates. Marguerre's shallow shell theory is employed to study the effect of sinusoidal imperfection on the non-linear behavior of composite skew plates. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.