Buckling and free vibration finite strip analysis of composite plates with cutout based on two different modeling approaches

A Reddy type, third order shear deformation theory of plates is applied to the development of two versions of finite strip method (FSM), namely semi-analytical and spline methods, to predict the behavior of the moderately thick plates containing cutouts. The internal cutouts are modeled based on two different modeling approaches, and the effects of cutouts on the buckling critical stresses as well as natural frequencies are investigated. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.