Imperfection sensitivity of axially compressed laminated flat plates due to bending-stretching coupling (Q1062517)

This paper investigates the effects of the bending-stretching coupling on the imperfection sensitivity of axially compressed laminated, thin, rectangular flat plates. In particular it is found that under certain circumstances this coupling phenomenon results in a nonzero cubic term of the potential energy, so that the structure may be imperfection sensitive depending on the sign of the imperfection. The analysis considers a nonlinear prebuckling state due to bending-stretching coupling of the structure. The buckling and initial postbuckling problem is solved using Koiter's theory of elastic stability.