Buckling of the composite laminates containing through-the-width delaminations using different plate theories

The buckling behavior of the composite laminates with through-the-width delaminations is studied by using different plate theories. The analytical method is based on the CLPT, FSDT and HSDT plate theories. The formulation is developed on the basis of the Rayleigh-Ritz technique by the implementation of the simple polynomial series. The contact among sublaminates is handled. The three-dimensional FEM analysis is also performed by using ANSYS5.4 commercial software, and the results are compared with those obtained by the analytical models. The agreement between the results is very good. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.