Vibration and buckling of laminated beams by a multi-layer finite element model

This paper presents a multi-layer finite element for buckling and free vibration analyses of laminated beams based on a higher-order layer-wise theory. An N-layer beam element with (9<i>N</i> + 7) degrees-of-freedom is proposed for analyses. Delamination and slip between the layers are not allowed. Element matrices for the single- and multi-layer beam elements are derived by Lagrange's equations. Buckling loads and natural frequencies are calculated for different end conditions and lamina stacking. Comparisons are made to show the accuracy of proposed element.