PARAMETRIC-INSTABILITY OF LAMINATED COMPOSITE PLATES WITH TRANSVERSE-SHEAR DEFORMATION

The instability of composite laminated plates under uniaxial, harmonically-varying, in-plane loads is investigated. Both symmetric cross-ply laminates and antisymmetric angle-ply laminates are analyzed. The first-order shear deformation plate theory is used to model composite laminates. The resulting linear equations of motion are transformed into small, uncoupled sets of equations, and instability regions in the plane of load amplitude versus load frequency are determined using the finite element method. The effects of damping, ratio of edge length to thickness of the plate, orthotropy, boundary conditions, number of layers and lamination angles on instability regions are examined. © 1990.