Elasticity approach for delamination buckling of composite beam plates

An elasticiry-theory-based approach is developed for delamination buckling of simply supported composite laminates whose behavior is referred to as cylindrical bending. The approach ensures an accurate description of the transverse shear and the transverse normal effects in delamination buckling of composite plates. The uniform prebuckling stress assumption, which is comparable to the membrane assumption used in plate theories, is made for deriving the elasticity-theory-based buckling equations. The closed-form expressions for the displacements and stresses are derived, and the nonlinear eigenvalue equations that are used to solve for critical loads are presented. The results obtained from the elasticity solution are compared with the critical loads furnished by the existing classical laminate theory and a previously developed higher-order shear deformation theory. The solution provides a means of accurate assessment of existing plate theories used in delamination buckling problems.