LOCAL BUCKLING OF DELAMINATED BEAMS AND PLATES USING CONTINUOUS ANALYSIS

The study presents a continuous analysis method for determining the buckling load of delaminated beams and plates. Investigations include beam-plates with end rotational restraints using the Stokes' transformation technique and orthotropic plates with simple supports. The analysis allows structures to have a multiple number of delaminations of various shapes and sizes, and at any locations. The method treats the discontinuous structure as a body without delamination but with a force system added at a number of discrete points in the delaminated region so as to make the net interfacial tractions to vanish at these points. Hence, the procedure solves problems of delaminated structures directly as a continuous system. Fourier series in conjunction with the Stokes' transformation is used which provides a unified solution for problems with different end conditions. Numerical results accounting for the effects of delamination length, location and shape; boundary conditions and stiffness of adhesive layer, to the local buckling load are presented for illustrative purposes. The method of analysis presented in the study is simple in concept, yet so effective and accurate in solving such discontinuous structures which would otherwise be extremely difficult if not impossible to analyze.