Large amplitudes free vibrations and post-buckling analysis of unsymmetrically laminated composite beams on nonlinear elastic foundation

The purpose of this paper is to present efficient and accurate analytical expressions for large amplitude free vibration and post-buckling analysis of unsymmetrically laminated composite beams on elastic foundation. Geometric nonlinearity is considered using Von Karman's strain-displacement relations. Besides, the elastic foundation has cubic nonlinearity with shearing layer. The nonlinear governing equation is solved by employing the variational iteration method (VIM). This study shows that the third-order approximation of the VIM leads to highly accurate solutions which are valid for a wide range of vibration amplitudes. The effects of different parameters on the ratio of nonlinear to linear natural frequency of beams and the post-buckling load-deflection relation are studied. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.