Buckling and vibration of multilayer orthotropic composite shells using a simple higher-order layerwise theory (Q675655)

The buckling and vibration of thick, orthotropic laminated composite shells is modelled using a simple layerwise higher-order theory. The theory accounts for a cubic variation of both the in-plane displacement and the transverse shear stresses within each layer, the latter being zero at the free surfaces without the need for shear correction factors. Numerical results for moderately short, one-, two- and three-layer shell panels are obtained for a range of base layer-to-core modulus of elasticity ratios. The normalized natural frequencies and stresses of the present theory are compared with those calculated by using a simple layerwise first-order theory and two other global higher-order theories.