Post-buckling analysis of elastic honeycombs subject to in-plane biaxial compression

In this paper, employing the homogenization theory and the microscopic bifurcation condition established by the authors, we discuss which microscopic buckling mode grows in elastic honeycombs subject to in-plane biaxial compression. First, we focus on equi-biaxial compression, under which uniaxial, biaxial and flower-like modes may develop as a result of triple bifurcation. By forcing each of the three modes to develop, and by comparing the internal energies, we show that the flower-like mode grows steadily if macroscopic strain is controlled, while either the uniaxial or biaxial mode develops if macroscopic stress is controlled. Second, by analyzing several cases other than equi-biaxial compression, it is shown that a second bifurcation from either the uniaxial or biaxial mode to the flower-like mode, which is distorted, occurs under biaxial compression in a certain range of biaxial ratio under macroscopic strain control. Finally, the possibility of macroscopic instability under biaxial compression is discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.