Buckling failure analysis of random composite laminates subjected to random loads

The buckling failure probability evaluation of laminated composite plates subjected to different in-plane random loads is investigated. The material properties, fiber angles and layer thickness of the laminates are treated as base-line random variables (BLRV). The statistics of buckling strengths of the laminates are determined by the buckling analysis of the stochastic finite element method. The buckling failure probabilities of the laminates subjected to random loads are obtained using the statistics of buckling strengths, the probability theories and the probability integration in the load space. The feasibility and accuracy of the present approach are validated using the results obtained by the Monte-Carlo method (MCM). Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the feasibility and application of the developed procedure and to investigate effects of stochastic dependence between buckling strengths corresponding to different failure modes and between random loads on the reliability of the composite laminates. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.