Thermomechanical buckling of rectangular, shear-deformable, composite laminated plates

The B-spline finite strip method is developed for the prediction of the buckling of rectangular composite laminated plates under the combined action of applied uniaxial mechanical stress and increasing temperature. The analysis is conducted in two stages, namely an in-plane stress analysis in the pre-buckling stage to determine the pre-buckling stresses, followed by a buckling analysis using these determined stresses. The buckling analysis is based on the use of first-order shear deformation plate theory. The permitted lay-up of the laminates is quite general, within the constraint that the plate remains flat prior to buckling, and a wide range of boundary conditions can be accommodated. A number of applications is described and comparison of the results generated using the finite strip method is made with the results of previous studies.