Buckling of metal-matrix composite plate with a square hole

The buckling of laminated metal-matrix composite (MMC) plates with a central square cutout were analyzed under compressive biaxial loading using the finite element approach. The MMC plates displayed some interesting buckling patterns and initial buckling shapes when subjected to different combination of hole sizes and boundary conditions. In the case of anti-symmetric, free-free boundary conditions, the MMC plates with central square cutout resist higher buckling loads as the hole size increased. Two laminated stacking sequences [90/0/0/90](2) and [45/-45/-45/45](2) were used in this study. For the same hole size, plate aspect ratio, and boundary conditions, the results showed that the critical buckling behavior of the plates were primarily influenced by the edge boundary conditions rather than by the laminated stacking sequences. The overall critical buckling analysis indicated that plates with clamped boundary conditions will take higher compressive loads than that of simply supported boundary conditions by a ratio of 2 to 1.