Estimation of Local Delamination Buckling in Orthotropic Composite Plates Using Kirchhoff Plate Finite Elements

Abstract

We analyse the buckling process of composite plates with through-the-width delamination and straight crack front applying uniaxial compression. We are focusing on the mixed mode buckling case, where the non-uniform distribution of the in-plane forces controls the occurence of the buckling of the delaminated layers. For the analysis, semi-discrete finite elements will be derived based on the Lèvy-type method. The method of harmonic balance is used for taking into account the force distribution that is generally non uniform in-plane.