Thermal postbuckling analysis of laminated composite plates

The thermal postbuckling behavior of graphite/epoxy multi-layered rectangular plates of various boundary conditions is studied using the finite element method. Temperature dependent thermal and elastic properties of the material are used in the analysis. The nonlinear finite element equations are solved as a sequence of linear eigenvalue problems to trace the thermal postbuckling paths of 15-layered symmetric angle-ply plates. The presence of secondary instability with an unsymmetric. deformation mode has been identified for symmetric laminates under uniform temperature rise. In the case of linearly varying temperature rise through the thickness of the plate, the nonlinear equilibrium equations are solved by the modified Newton-Raphson technique to get the temperature-displacement curves. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.