ANALYSIS OF THE BUCKLING DELAMINATION OF A RECTANGULAR SANDWICH THICK PLATE WITH BAND CRACKS

In this study, a buckling delamination problem of a rectangular sandwich thick plate is investigated. It is assumed that the sandwich plate is composed of two face layers and a core layer. It is also assumed that face and core layers are made of different materials which are isotropic and homogeneous. It is assumed that there are two same band cracks at the interfaces between the layers and edge-surfaces of these cracks, which have initial infinitesimal imperfections. The evolution of the mentioned initial imperfections with an external compressive loading acting along the cracks is investigated within the framework of the piecewise homogeneous body model with the use of the three-dimensional geometrically nonlinear field equations of the theory of elasticity. For the determination of the values of the critical force as well as the buckling delamination mode, the initial imperfection criterion is used. The corresponding boundary value problems are solved by employing boundary form perturbation techniques and finite elements method (FEM). The influence of the parameters pertaining to the material and the geometry of the plate on the critical values is investigated.