A composite view on Windenburg's problem: Buckling and minimum stiffness requirements of compressively loaded orthotropic plates with edge reinforcements

This paper discusses the buckling behaviour of orthotropic composite plates under uniform uniaxial compression with one free reinforced unloaded edge. A typical application example for use of such a mechanical model is the web of stiffeners and frames attached to the fuselage skin of an aircraft. The considered plates are rectangular and simply supported at the loaded transverse edges. One of the longitudinal unloaded edges is also simply supported, while the second unloaded edge is not supported at all but is reinforced by a flange of arbitrary cross-section. At first, an exact solution for the elastic buckling problem is derived from the governing differential equation by imposing the underlying boundary conditions. Thereafter, two approximate closed-form solutions for the buckling load are derived, which can be conveniently used for practical application purposes. Generic buckling curves using characteristic non-dimensional quantities are also presented. Finally, the question of the required bending stiffness EI_min of the flange is treated, to ensure that the flange withstands buckling and provides simply supported boundary conditions to the free reinforced plate edge.     

Buckling of symmetrically laminated rectangular plates under parabolic edge compressions

Buckling analysis of symmetrically laminated rectangular plates with parabolic distributed in-plane compressive loadings along two opposite edges is performed using the Rayleigh-Ritz method. Classical laminated plate theory is adopted. Stress functions satisfying all stress boundary conditions are constructed based on the Chebyshev polynomials. Displacement functions for buckling analysis are constructed by Chebyshev polynomials multiplying with functions that satisfy either simply supported or clamped boundary condition along four edges. Methodology and procedures are worked out in detail. Buckling loads for symmetrically laminated plates with four combinations of boundary conditions are obtained. The proposed method is verified by comparing results to data obtained by the differential quadrature method (DQM) and the finite element method (FEM). Numerical example also shows that the double sine series displacement for simply supported symmetrically laminated plates having bending-twisting coupling may overestimate the stiffness, thus providing higher buckling loads.     

Analytical studies for buckling and vibration of weld-bonded beam shells of rectangular cross-section

An approach to analytical solution is presented for vibration and buckling of thin-walled tubular beam shells typical of automotive structures, which are fabricated by joining sheet metal stampings along the two longitudinal edges with periodic spot welds, adhesive bonding, or combination of spot welds and bonding, known as weld bonding. Solutions are obtained for such beam shells of rectangular cross-section with two opposite ends simply supported. The beam shell is modeled as an assembly of the constituent walls and Levy-type formulation is used to obtain a series solution for the transverse displacement of each of the walls. The challenge of expressing the discrete point support conditions at the spot welds by a continuous function is addressed using the flexibility function approach used in literature. The flexibility function, used earlier to represent the flexibility distribution along weld-bonded edges of rectangular plates with periodic spot welds, is used here. The characteristic equations are obtained by satisfying the displacement, slope, shear, and moment equilibrium at the mating edges of the walls including the two weld-bonded edges and the compatibility conditions at the spot-weld locations. This approach to analytical solution, described here for thin-walled beam shells of rectangular cross-section, can be suitably adopted for more general cross-sections and joints along non-symmetric edges. A parametric study is undertaken to show the effect of aspect ratio of the beam shell, adhesive joint parameters, and the number of spot welds on the elastic buckling loads and the natural frequencies. Such parametric studies can be of use to designers in arriving at an optimal joint configuration of weld-bonded beam shells from buckling and vibration considerations.     

Stability behaviour of arbitrarily laminated composite plates with free and elastically restrained unloaded edges

In this paper, the initial buckling loads and the corresponding buckling modes of symmetric rectangular laminated plates are investigated. The considered laminates are supposed to have a uniform thickness, are subjected to a linearly distributed inplane compressive normal load and are simply supported at the two loaded edges with one free unloaded plate edge and with one simply supported unloaded edge where elastic rotational restraints are considered. Unlike in many other investigations, the composite laminates presently under consideration may have arbitrary yet symmetric lamination schemes with bending–torsion coupling. The initial buckling loads of such plates are calculated using the RITZ-method for which some especially adjusted displacement shape functions are employed. Since a series expansion of the buckling shape is performed in the load direction only while in the perpendicular direction one single displacement function can be shown to be sufficient, the present approach is numerically very efficient when compared to approaches in which a series representation is chosen with respect to both inplane directions. Comparison with reference results and with finite element computations leads to an excellent agreement. Some new findings on the general stability behaviour of this class of laminated plates are presented as a closure.     

Levy solutions for vibration of multi-span rectangular plates

This paper presents the Levy method to investigate the vibration behaviour of multi-span rectangular plates. The Levy method is applicable and analytical for rectangular plates with at least two parallel simply supported edges. The continuity at an interface between two spans is maintained by imposing both the essential and natural boundary conditions along the interface. The impact of the internal line supports on the vibration behaviour of the plates is investigated by varying both the number of internal lines and the line positions. Results for the vibration of two- and three-span rectangular plates are presented, in which the first-known exact solutions for plates involving free edges are included. The present results may serve as benchmark solutions for such plates.     

Exact solutions for vibration and buckling of an SS-C-SS-C rectangular plate loaded by linearly varying in-plane stresses

Exact solutions are presented for the free vibration and buckling of rectangular plates having two opposite edges (x=0 and a) simply supported and the other two (y=0 and b) clamped, with the simply supported edges subjected to a linearly varying normal stress σ_x=−N₀[1−α(y/b)]/h, where h is the plate thickness. By assuming the transverse displacement (w) to vary as sin(mπx/a), the governing partial differential equation of motion is reduced to an ordinary differential equation in y with variable coefficients, for which an exact solution is obtained as a power series (the method of Frobenius). Applying the clamped boundary conditions at y=0 and b yields the frequency determinant. Buckling loads arise as the frequencies approach zero. A careful study of the convergence of the power series is made. Buckling loads are determined for loading parameters α=0,0.5,1,1.5,2, for which α=2 is a pure in-plane bending moment. Comparisons are made with published buckling loads for α=0,1,2 obtained by the method of integration of the differential equation (α=0) or the method of energy (α=1,2). Novel results are presented for the free vibration frequencies of rectangular plates with aspect ratios a/b=0.5,1,2 subjected to three types of loadings (α=0,1,2), with load intensities N₀/N_cr=0,0.5,0.8,0.95,1, where N_cr is the critical buckling load of the plate. Contour plots of buckling and free vibration mode shapes are also shown.     

Accurate buckling loads of thin rectangular plates under parabolic edge compressions by the differential quadrature method

The buckling of thin rectangular plates with nonlinearly distributed loadings along two opposite plate edges is analyzed by using the differential quadrature (DQ) method. The problem is considerably more complicated since it requires that first the plane elasticity problem be solved to obtain the distribution of in-plane stresses, and then the buckling problem be solved. Thus, very few analytical solutions (the only one available in the literature is for rectangular plates with all edges simply supported) have been available in the literature thus far. Detailed formulations and solution procedures are given herein. Nine combinations of boundary conditions and various aspect ratios are considered. Comparisons are made with a few existing analytical and/or finite element data. It has been found that a fast convergent rate can be achieved by the DQ method with non-uniform grids and very accurate results are obtained for the first time. It has also been found that the DQ results, verified by the finite element method with NASTRAN, are not quite close to the newly reported analytical solution. A possible reason is given to explain the difference.     

Plates in uniaxial compression with various support conditions at the unloaded boundaries

A theoretical investigation is presented for the behaviour after buckling of plates loaded in compression with the unloaded edges subject to various support boundary conditions. The loaded ends are uniformly compressed and simply supported and the unloaded edges are considered to be either elastically restrained against rotation to an equal or unequal degree on both edges, or to be rotationally restrained on one edge and free on the other.     

Vibration of rectangular Mindlin plates resting on non-homogenous elastic foundations

This paper is concerned with the vibration behaviour of rectangular Mindlin plates resting on non-homogenous elastic foundations. A rectangular plate is assumed to rest on a non-homogenous elastic foundation that consists of multi-segment Winkler-type elastic foundations. Two parallel edges of the plate are assumed to be simply supported and the two remaining edges may have any combinations of free, simply supported or clamped conditions. The plate is first divided into subdomains along the interfaces of the multi-segment foundations. The Levy solution approach associated with the state space technique is employed to derive the analytical solutions for each subdomain. The domain decomposition method is used to cater for the continuity and equilibrium conditions at the interfaces of the subdomains. First-known exact solutions for vibration of rectangular Mindlin plates on a non-homogenous elastic foundation are obtained. The vibration of square Mindlin plates partially resting on an elastic foundation is studied in detail. The influence of the foundation stiffness parameter, the foundation length ratio and the plate thickness ratio on the frequency parameters of square Mindlin plates is discussed. The exact vibration solutions presented in this paper may be used as benchmarks for researchers to check their numerical methods for such a plate vibration problem. The results are also important for engineers to design plates supported by multi-segment elastic foundations.     

Buckling analysis of laminated composite rectangular plates reinforced by SWCNTs using analytical and finite element methods

In this paper, the buckling analysis of laminated composite plates reinforced by single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is carried out using an analytical approach as well as the finite element method. The developed model is based on the classical laminated plate theory (CLPT) and the third-order shear deformation theory for moderately thick laminated plates. The critical buckling loads for the symmetrical layup are determined for different support edges. The Mori-Tanaka method is employed to calculate the effective elastic modulus of composites having aligned oriented straight nanotubes. The effect of the agglomeration of the randomly oriented straight nanotubes on the critical buckling load is also analyzed. The results of analytical solution are compared and verified with the FEM calculations The critical buckling loads obtained by the finite element and the analytical methods for different layup and boundary conditions are in good agreement with each other. In this article, the effects of the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) orientation angle, the edge conditions, and the aspect ratio on the critical buckling load are also demonstrated using both the analytical and finite element methods.     

Buckling and vibration of stiffened plates subjected to partial edge loading

The buckling and vibration characteristics of stiffened plates subjected to in-plane partial and concentrated edge loadings are studied using finite element method. The initial stresses are obtained considering the pre-buckling conditions. Buckling loads and vibration frequencies are determined for different plate aspect ratios, edge conditions and different partial non-uniform edge loading cases. The non-uniform loading may also be caused due to the supports on the edges. The analysis presented determines the stresses all over the region for different kinds of loading and edge conditions. In the structural modelling, the plate and the stiffeners are treated as separate elements where the compatibility between these two types of elements is maintained. The vibration characteristics are discussed and the results are compared with those available in the literature. Buckling results show that the stiffened plate is less susceptible to buckling for position of loading near the supported edges and near the position of stiffeners as well.     

Buckling of moderately thick rectangular composite plates subjected to partial edge compression

The objective of the present paper is to investigate the influence of partial edge compression on the critical loads of moderately thick laminated plates. Towards this, an eight node isoparametric plate element is developed. The element has five degrees of freedom per node. The computer code developed accepts two sets of boundary conditions, one for pre-buckling stress analysis and the second for stability analysis. This flexibility is proposed to exploit the mid-line symmetry conditions. Two types of partial edge compression, viz., (I) uniform partial edge compression near the corners and (II) uniform partial edge compression at the middle of edges are considered. The effect of percentage of loaded edge length on the critical load of thin and thick composite plates with simply supported and clamped edge conditions is studied in detail.     

The load-carrying capacity of initially imperfect eccentrically loaded plates

Theoretical analyses of compressed plates with various loading and boundary conditions previously published by the authors are extended to include the effects of initial imperfections. Comparison of the theoretical results is made with experiment. It is shown that for plates with supports on both unloaded edges the simple criterion that collapse occurs when the maximum membrane stress reaches yield, gives accurate estimates of failure for eccentrically loaded plates. The collapse modes of plates which have one edge free are found to be rather complex in nature and vary with plate thickness and loading eccentricity.A simplified design analysis for the prediction of collapse loads of eccentrically loaded simply supported plates is formulated and shown to predict experimental results very accurately.     

Three-dimensional static solutions of rectangular plates by variant differential quadrature method

An endeavor to exploit three-dimensional elasticity solutions for bending and buckling of rectangular plates via the differential quadrature (DQ) and harmonic differential quadrature (HDQ) methods is performed. Unlike other works, the priority of this paper is to examine the computational characteristics of the two methods; therefore, we focus our studies only on the simply supported and clamped rectangular plates. To start with, we first outline the basic equations and boundary conditions describing the bending and buckling of rectangular plates followed by normalizing and discretizing them according to the DQ and HDQ algorithms. The resulting algebraic equation systems are then solved to obtain the solutions. Based on these solutions, the computational characteristics of the DQ and HDQ methods are investigated in terms of their numerical performances. It is found that the DQ method displays obvious superior convergence characteristics over the HDQ method for the three-dimensional static analysis of rectangular plates.     

Buckling of rectangular plates with various boundary conditions loaded by non-uniform inplane loads

In the present paper, buckling loads of rectangular composite plates having nine sets of different boundary conditions and subjected to non-uniform inplane loading are presented considering higher order shear deformation theory (HSDT). As the applied inplane load is non-uniform, the buckling load is evaluated in two steps. In the first step the plane elasticity problem is solved to evaluate the stress distribution within the prebuckling range. Using the above stress distribution the plate buckling equations are derived from the principle of minimum total potential energy. Adopting Galerkin's approximation, the governing partial differential equations are converted into a set of homogeneous linear algebraic equations. The critical buckling load is obtained from the solution of the associated linear eigenvalue problem. The present buckling loads are compared with the published results wherever available. The buckling loads obtained from the present method for plate with various boundary conditions and subjected to non-uniform inplane loading are found to be in excellent agreement with those obtained from commercial software ANSYS. Buckling mode shapes of plate for different boundary conditions with non-uniform inplane loadings are also presented.     

A new exact analytical approach for free vibration of Reissner-Mindlin functionally graded rectangular plates

An exact closed-form procedure is presented for free vibration analysis of moderately thick rectangular plates having two opposite edges simply supported (i.e. Lévy-type rectangular plates) based on the Reissner-Mindlin plate theory. The material properties change continuously through the thickness of the plate, which can vary according to a power law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituents. By introducing some new potential and auxiliary functions, the displacement fields are analytically obtained for this plate configuration. Several comparison studies with analytical and numerical techniques reported in literature are carried out to establish the high accuracy and reliability of the solutions. Comprehensive benchmark results for natural frequencies of the functionally graded (FG) rectangular plates with six different combinations of boundary conditions (i.e. SSSS-SSSC-SCSC-SCSF-SSSF-SFSF) are tabulated in dimensionless form for various values of aspect ratios, thickness to length ratios and the power law index. Due to the inherent features of the present exact closed-form solution, the present results will be a useful benchmark for evaluating the accuracy of other analytical and numerical methods, which will be developed by researchers in the future.     

An exact solution for the bending of thin rectangular plates with uniform, linear, and quadratic thickness variations

In this paper, the analysis of the titled problem is based on classical thin-plate theory, and its numerical solution is carried out by using the small parameter method and Lévy-type approach. The thin rectangular plate considered herein is simply supported on two opposite edges. The boundary conditions at the other two edges may be quite general, and between these two edges the plate may have varying thickness. Closed-form solutions have been developed for the static response of isotropic rectangular plates with non-uniform thickness variation and subjected to arbitrary loading. The accuracy of the present model is demonstrated via problems for which the exact solutions and numerical results are available, and results are also compared with those obtained by using the finite-difference method.     

Buckling studies for simply supported symmetrically laminated rectangular plates

Extensive and accurate numerical results are presented for the critical buckling loads of simply supported, rectangular, laminated composite plates subjected to five types of loading conditions: (1) uniaxial, (2) hydrostatic biaxial, (3) compression-tension biaxial, (4) positive shear and (5) negative shear. Considerably different results are found for the two types of shear loading for angle-ply composites. The Ritz method, along with displacements assumed in the form of a double sine series, is used to solve the problems. Convergence studies are presented to demonstrate the accuracy of the results. Contour plots of the buckled mode shapes are shown for some of the more interesting plate and loading configurations.     

Elastoplastic buckling of rectangular plates in biaxial compression/tension

This paper examines the elastoplastic buckling of a rectangular plate, with various boundary conditions, under uniform compression combined with uniform tension (or compression) in the perpendicular direction. The analysis is based on the standard linear buckling equations and material behaviour is modelled by the small strain J₂ flow and deformation theories of plasticity. A detailed parametric study has been made for Al 7075 T6 over a range of plate geometries (a/b=0.25–4,a/h≈20–100) and with three sets of boundary conditions (four simply supported boundaries and the symmetric combinations of clamped/simply supported sides). For sufficiently thin plates we recover with both theories the classical elastic results. However, for thicker plates there is a remarkable difference in the buckling loads predicted by these two theories. Apart from the expected observation that deformation theory gives lower critical stresses than those obtained from the flow theory, we report on the existence of an optimal loading path for the deformation theory model. Buckling loads attained along the optimal path—specified by particular compression/tension ratios—are the highest possible over the entire space of loading histories. By contrast, no similar optimum has been found with the flow theory. This discrepancy in the buckling behaviour, obtained from the two competing plastic theories, provides a possibly new illustration of the plastic buckling paradox.     

Vibration and buckling characteristics of weld-bonded rectangular plates using the flexibility function approach

Structures with a combination of spot welds and adhesive bonding, often referred to as weld-bonded structures, are likely to see increasing usage in automotive and other engineering structures. The present study considers a representative weld-bonded rectangular plate having simple supports on two opposite edges and weld-bonded support conditions with periodic spot welds along the other two edges. The study shows that the flexibility function approach for modeling free edges with point supports [Bapat AV, Venkatramani N, Suryanarayan S. Simulation of classical edge conditions by finite elastic restraints in the vibration analysis of plates. Journal of Sound and Vibration 1988;120(1):127–40; Bapat AV, Venkatramani N, Suryanarayan S. A new approach for the representation of a point support in the analysis of plates. Journal of Sound and Vibration 1988;120(1):107–25; Bapat AV, Venkatramani N, Suryanarayan S. The use of flexibility functions with negative domains in the vibration analysis of asymmetrically point-supported rectangular plates. Journal of Sound and Vibration 1988;124(3):555–76; Bapat AV, Suryanarayan S. Free vibrations of periodically point-supported rectangular plates. Journal of Sound and Vibration 1989;132(3):491–509; Bapat AV, Suryanarayan S. The flexibility function approach to vibration analysis of rectangular plates with arbitrary multiple point supports on the edges. Journal of Sound and Vibration 1989;128(2):203–33; Bapat AV, Suryanarayan S. Free vibrations of rectangular plates with interior point supports. Journal of Sound and Vibration 1989;134(2):291–313; Bapat AV, Suryanarayan S. Importance of satisfaction of point-support compatibility conditions in the simulation of point supports by the flexibility function approach. Journal of Sound and Vibration 1990;137(2):191–207; Bapat AV, Suryanarayan S. A fictitious foundation approach to vibration analysis of plates with interior point. Journal of Sound and Vibration 1992;155(2):325–41; Bapat AV, Suryanarayan S. A theoretical basis for the experimental realization of boundary conditions in the vibration analysis of plates. Journal of Sound and Vibration 1993;163(3):463–78], used in the direct series solution of the governing differential equations, can be employed very effectively to study the vibration and buckling characteristics of the weld-bonded rectangular plates. This is done by using a flexibility function constructed in terms of Fourier components to model the weld-bonded edge that represents the finite uniform flexibility of the adhesively bonded segment of the weld-bonded edge along with zero flexibility at the spot welds modeled as discrete point supports. A detailed convergence study shows that by a proper choice of the number of terms used to represent the flexibility function and the number of terms in the Levy sine series for the solution of the plate displacement, accurate results can be obtained for vibration and buckling characteristics. This paper also includes a parametric study undertaken to show the effect of plate geometry, number of spot welds and adhesive joint parameters. The paper also discusses how such parametric studies can be of use to the designer in arriving at an optimal joint configuration of weld-bonded rectangular plates from linear elastic buckling and free vibration considerations.