Buckling analysis of composite sandwich structures based on layerwise plate theory

Transverse shear deformation at each layer must be considered accurately when buckling analysis is performed for composite sandwich structures, due to significant difference of mechanical properties between each layer. For this, a four-node plate element based on Reddy's Layerwise plate theory is developed in this paper, which applies the first-order shear deformation theory at each layer. Mixed interpolation of tensorial component is employed to solve the shear locking problem. Then, three numerical examples are analyzed. The results show that the proposed element can discretely consider the mechanical properties of each layer; the accuracy of the proposed finite element is good; the results fit well with the results predicted by three dimensional elastic theory or high-order plate theory when the plate is modelled by several layers elements as well as with ones predicated by the first-order shear deformation plate theory when the plate is modelled by single layer elements.