AN INVESTIGATION ON THE POST BUCKLING BEHAVIOR OF

SYMMETRIC CROSS-PLY LAMINATED PLATES USING A SEMI-ENERGY

FINITE STRIP APPROACH

H.R. Ovesy
1
, H. Assaee
2

Aerospace Engineering Department
Amirkabir University of Technology, Hafez Street, Tehran, Iran
Fax:(98)-21-6405032
Phone:(98)-21-6404885


ABSTRACT
A geometrically non-linear finite strip for the post buckling analysis of geometrically perfect thin
symmetric cross-ply laminated plates under uniform end shortening is presented in this paper. The
formulation of the aforementioned finite strip is based on the concept of the semi-energy approach. In this
method, the out-of-plane displacement of the finite strip is the only displacement which is postulated by a
deflected form. The postulated deflected form is substituted into von Krmns compatibility equation
which is solved exactly to obtain the corresponding forms of the mid-plane stresses and displacements. The
solution of von Krmns compatibility equation and the postulated out-of-plane deflected form are then
used to evaluate the potential energy of the related finite strip. Finally, by invoking the Principle of
Minimum Potential Energy, the equilibrium equations of the finite strip are derived. The developed finite
strip is then applied to analyze the post-local-buckling behavior of thin flat laminates. The results are
discussed in detail and compared with those obtained from finite element method (FEM) of analysis. It
should be mentioned that the FEM analysis was carried out employing the general purpose ANSYS
package. The study of the results has provided confidence in the validity and capability of the developed
finite strip in handling the post buckling problem of symmetric cross-ply laminated plates.

Keywords: Post Buckling - Semi-Energy Approach - Finite Strip Method Von-Karmans Compatibility
Equation-Symmetric Cross-Ply laminate

INTRODUCTION
One of the most challenging quests of aircraft industries is to come up with light structures. This
requirement translates to thin-walled structures made up of composite material. It is important to accurately
predict the buckling and post-buckling behavior of such structures. The post-local-buckling behaviour of
composite plates or plate structures is a geometric non-linear problem. The non-linear equations governing
the elastic large deflection of flat plates were first derived by von Krmn [1]. The post-buckling behaviour
of a plate can be analysed by solving the von Krmn non-linear equations, together with the appropriate
boundary conditions. Unfortunately, the von Krmn equations are coupled and fourth order, and thus no
rigorous solutions are available. This has prepared the ground for the development of the approximate
methods such as finite element method (FEM), finite strip method (FSM), semi-energy method, etc. Early
works concerned with the use of FSM in predicting the geometrically non-linear response of single
rectangular plates and prismatic plate structures are those of Graves Smith and Sridharan[2] and
Hancock[3]. These authors consider the post-buckling behaviour of plates with simply supported ends
when subjected to progressive end shortening. They also consider the post-buckling behaviour of plate
structures subjected to uniform or linearly varying end shortening with each component plate of the
structure having simply supported ends. In another contribution, Dawe and Wang[4] have developed a
spline finite strip method for analysing the geometrically non-linear response of rectangular composite
laminated plates of arbitrary lay-up to progressive end shortening in their plane. The semi-energy method,

1
Assistant Professor (Corresponding Author),e-mail:ovesy@aut.ac.ir
2
PhD Student, e-mail:assaee@aut.ac.ir
as referred to by Rhodes & Harvey[5], was first used by Marguerre[6], and has since been used by various
researchers. In this method, the out-of-plane displacement is the only displacement, which is postulated by
a deflected form. The postulated deflected form is substituted into von Krmns compatibility equation,
which is solved exactly to obtain the corresponding forms of the mid-plane stresses and displacements. The
solution of von Krmns compatibility equation and the postulated out-of-plane deflected form are then
used to evaluate the potential energy of the structure. Finally, by invoking the Principle of Minimum
Potential Energy, the unknown deflection coefficients existing in the postulated deflected form are
determined and thus the problem is solved.
More recently, the authors of the this paper developed a geometrically non-linear finite strip for the post-
local-buckling analysis of geometrically perfect thin-walled prismatic structures under uniform end
shortening based on the semi-energy approach[7]. In this work, the developed finite strip formulation was
validated by comparing the obtained results with those already available in the open literature for plates
under uniform end shortening. In another work [8], the developed semi-energy finite strip has been
implemented to analyze the post-buckling behavior of a square plate under uniform end shortening. The
results have been compared with those of a finite element analysis to investigate the efficiency of the
developed method.
In the current work, the developed semi-energy finite strip formulation has been upgraded to a multi-term
formulation from its original form, which was a single-term formulation, and also the formulation has been
enhanced for post-buckling analysis of symmetric cross-ply laminated plates. In order to check the validity
of the method the results of the upgraded formulation has been compared with the results obtained from a
FEM analysis.

SEMI-ENERGY FINITE STRIP FORMULATION
The semi-energy post-local-buckling theory has been developed for the finite strip shown in Figure 1. This
finite strip is assumed to be made of orthotropic layers constructing a symmetric cross-ply laminate and the
finite strip is perfectly flat initially. Moreover, the finite strip is simply supported out-of-plane at both ends
(i.e. at ends x = 0 & L), and is subjected to a uniform end shortening u at end x = Lonly. It may be noted
that u, and w correspond to the mid-plane displacements. The degrees of freedom (DOF), called nodal
displacement parameters, are defined at each nodal line. These nodal displacement parameters are depicted
in Figure 2 for a finite strip.




Figure 1: A Finite Strip Subjected to a Prescribed
Uniform End Shortening
Figure 2: Displacement Parameters of a Finite Strip

y,
z, w
x, u
b
L
u = u
The boundary conditions at loaded ends of the finite strip are summarised as follows:

L = at u
0 = at 0
= L & 0 = at 0 = N = M =
x
x
u and x w
xy x


(1)

The developed semi-energy FSM approach given in this paper is that for thin plates. This allows the
application of the Classical Laminated Plate Theory (CLPT) in the theoretical analysis of the paper. The
von Krmn compatibility equation for large deflections of cross-ply laminated plates is given as Equation
2.

|
|
.
|

\
|

|
|
.
|

\
|

|
|
.
|

\
|

+


+ +

=
2
2
2
2
2
2
4
4
*
11
2 2
4
*
66
*
12
4
4
*
22
4
y
w
x
w

y x
w
=
y
F
A
y x
F
) A A 2 (
x
F
A F


(2)

Where A
*
is the inverse of in-plane stiffness matrix of the cross-ply laminated plate (i.e. A
*
=A
-1
) and the
function F (i.e. F=F(x,y)) is so called Airy stress function. The following function found to be suitable to
represent the out-of-plane displacement field for the developed semi-energy finite strip formulation.
( ) ( ) x y x y w
w w
3 sin ) ( f sin ) ( f =
3 1
+

where
f

2i
2 3
s 2
3 2
1i
3 2
s 1
3 2
) ( b ) 2 3 ( ) 2 ( b ) 2 3 (1 = + + + + +
i i wi
w w
and
3 , 1
b L
=
s
= = i
y

(3-a)

(3-b)

(3-c)
In the above expression w
1i
, ,w
i 1

2i
, (i.e. i=1,3) are the undetermined out-of-plane nodal displacement
parameters along edges 1 and 2 of the strip. The out-of-plane displacement w is then substituted in the von
Krmns compatibility equation in order to find the corresponding in-plane displacement functions. In this
process, the stress function F may be considered as follow:
i 2
) cos(6 F ) cos(4 F ) cos(2 F + (y) F = y) F(x,
6 4 2 1
x x x + +
(4)
Substituting F from Equation 4 and w from Equation 3 in Equation 2, a set of forth-order ordinary
differential equations will be achieved as Equation (5).

= = + +
=
6 , 4 , 2 ) , ( ) ( ) 2 ( ) ( A
) , ( A
3 1
2 4 *
22
' ' *
66
*
12
2 ' ' ' ' *
11
3 1 1
2 ' ' ' '
1
*
11
k f f F k A F A A k F
f f F
w w k k k k
w w

(5)
Where

are known functions and can be derived analytically. The first equation can be solved
easily, but the solutions for the remaining three equations are composed of two parts, namely the particular
integral solutions and the complementary function solutions. The particular integral solutions depend on the
functions f
6 4 2 1
, , ,
wi
(i.e. i=1,3) only, thus it can be conveniently evaluated. But, for the complementary function
solutions three cases may be appear in accordance with the sign of Delta of the forth order characteristic
equation of the differential equations, which is given as:
*
22
*
11
2 *
66
*
12
4 ) 2 ( A A A A + =

(6)
As will be seen, for the type of cross-ply laminates studied in the current paper Delta takes a positive value
according to Equation 6. Therefore, the solutions for the stress functions are presented as Equation 7. It is,
however, noted that the solution procedure for the developed theory remains basically the same even for the
cases where Delta takes zero or negative values.
6 , 4 , 2
A 2
2
A 2
2
)) ( ), ( ( ) sinh( ) cosh( ) sinh( ) cosh( ) ( F
then 0 if
*
11
*
66
*
12
*
11
*
66
*
12
3 1 4 3 2 1 k
=
+
=
+ +
=
+ + + + =
>
k
A A
N and
A A
M
where
y f y f Ny C Ny C My C My C y
w w k k k k k

(7)
In Equation 7 the functions

(i.e. k=2,4,6) are the particular integral solutions. The 12

coefficients C
) , (
3 1 w w k
f f
k1
C
k4
(i.e. k=2,4,6) are unknown at present, but it is assumed that these coefficients are
known. By taking this assumption in to account and imposing the appropriate boundary conditions from
Equation 1 and solving the stress-strain constitutive equations, the in-plane displacements will be derived
as:
0 , )) ( ), ( (
6 , 4 , 2 )) ( ), ( ), ( ( )) ( ), ( ), ( (
) ( ) 6 cos( ) 4 cos( ) 2 cos( ) (
) 6 sin( ) 4 sin( ) 2 sin(
L
u
- u
0
0 3 1 0 0
3 1 3 1
0 0
6 4 2 6 4 2 0
*
11
*
21
6 4 2
= =
= = =
+ + + + + + + =
+ + + =
=
= = =
y
w w
w w k k k w w k uk uk
y x y
u u u
f y f y f f f
k y f y f y F f f and y f y f y F f f
where
f f f x f x f x f f y
L
u
A
A
x f x f x f x






(8-a)



(8-b)



(8-c)

The first term on the right hand side of Equation (8-a) represents the prescribed uniform end shortening.
The amplitude of the next three terms evaluated at and (i.e.
y = 0 y = b
s
0 = y
uk
f
and
s
b
f
= y
uk
, k=2,4,6)
represents the local degrees of freedom u
1k
and u
2k
, respectively. The first term on the right hand side of
Equation (8-b) describes the transverse in-plane expansion of the strip, which translates to the Poissons
ratio effect for an isotropic material. The second term (i.e. ) describes the transverse in-plane movement
0
f
of the lines parallel to x-axis across a strip. This movement, which is constant along a given line, varies
from a minimum value of zero at edge to its maximum value at the edge
s
. The next three
terms describe the in-plane waviness of the lines which lie parallel to x-axis. The amplitude of these terms
evaluated at and
s
(i.e.
y = 0 y = b
y = 0 y = b
0 = y
f
k
and
s
b
f
= y
k
, k=2,4,6) represents the local degrees of freedom

1k
and
2k
, respectively. Finally, the sixth term (which is equivalent to (
12
+
14
+
16
)) and the seventh
term on the right hand side of Equation (8-b) represent values which remain constant at all points on a
given strip. The existence of the sixth term on the right hand side of Equation (8-b) (i.e.
0
6
)
= y
4 2
( + + f f f

)) allows the point
( = 0 , = 0) x y
12

to be treated as a reference point in terms of its

deflection being connected to another strip or being restrained.
f
Gpa
140 =
k
E
2
=
mm
125 . 0 E
1
3 . 0 =
cr u
It is noted that in the above Equations (i.e. Equations 8), functions F
k
(y) (k=2,4,6) are not yet fully known.
Due to the coefficients C
k1
C
k4
(i.e. k=2,4,6) being unknown, these coefficients are obtained by treating
them as unknowns, and solving for them while all other parameters, including all degrees of freedom (i.e.
u
1k
,
1k
, w
1i
,
1i
, u
2k
,
2k
, w
2j
and
2j
(i=1,3,k=2,4,6)), are assumed to be known. Thus, the coefficients
C
k1
C
k4
(i.e. k=2,4,6) are explicitly described in the terms of the degrees of freedom. Having derived the
in-plane displacement functions (i.e. u,), the total potential energy of the strip can be found. By invoking
the principle of minimum potential energy the strip equilibrium equations can be obtained and subsequently
rearranged into the non-linear stiffness matrix of the strip. Once strip equilibrium equations are determined
for all strips, the equations are assembled to form a set of global equilibrium equations (i.e. a set of global
stiffness equations) for the whole structure. After the application of any appropriate zero-displacement
boundary conditions, the global equilibrium equations are then solved using the Newton-Raphson (N-R)
iterative procedure. Once the global equilibrium equations are solved and the nodal degrees of freedom are
found for a particular prescribed end shortening, it is possible to calculate the out-of-plane displacement w
in any finite strip using Equation.3 directly. The calculation of in-plane displacements u and is achieved
after finding F
k
(y), and
f
. Having obtained the functions F
uk
k
(y) the in-plane stresses in any point of the
strip is known. By integrating the stresses along the strip edges the total forces acting on a strip will be
derived.

DISCUSSION AND RESULTS
The plate which is considered in this paper is a square plate with all edges simply supported out-of-plane.
The plate is assumed to be of 200
mm
length and 1
mm
thickness. The plate is manufactured from high
strength carbon-epoxy pre-impregnated plies. The material properties of a single ply are:
Gpa Gpa
t G 5 10
12
= = (9)
The lay-up configuration in the plate is assumed to be symmetric cross-ply (i.e. [(0/90)
2
]
s
). It should be
mentioned that after calculating Delta for this laminate according to Equation (6), the sign of Delta has
been found to be positive. Therefore, the particular integral solution for F
k
(y) functions is assigned
according to Equation (7).
The non-dimensional end shortening u
*
is the ratio of u to
cr u . It is noted that is the buckling end
shortening of the plate. Moreover, the non-dimensional longitudinal load P* is the ratio of P to P
cr
, where
P
cr
is the critical buckling load of the plate. It should be mentioned that the critical end shortening and the
corresponding buckling load are calculated using a finite strip buckling analysis code, which has also been
developed by the authors [9]. A finite element analysis on the post-buckling behavior of the
aforementioned plate is carried out, employing the general purpose ANSYS package. The SHELL91 two
dimensional thin-shell element of the ANSYS library is used. The convergence study revealed that a mesh
arrangement composed by 400 square elements with the uniform size of 10x10
mm
for the FEM analysis,
and 20 strips of equal width for the FSM analysis were perfectly acceptable.
Figure 3 depicts the non-dimensional load-end shortening variation, and Figure 4 represents the non-
dimensional variation of the out-of-plane defection at the centre of the plate with load for the
aforementioned plate.
Figure 3 shows that in the early stages of the post-buckling range, the results of the current FSM are in
excellent agreement with those from FEM. However, this agreement deteriorates as load increases inside
the post-buckling region. When the difference appears to exist, it is seen that for a given end shortening, the
FEM value for load is higher than the value which was predicted by the current FSM. This indicates that as
load increases inside the post-buckling region, the FEM consistently overestimates the plates
compressional stiffness compared to the stiffness estimated by FSM. Acknowledging the fact that FEM and
FSM are giving an upper bound estimation of the plates stiffness, the overestimation of the stiffness value
by the FEM could possibly represent the lower accuracy of the FEM results compared to the results of FSM
analysis. It is seen in Figure 4 that the way in which the results of the current FSM compare with those of
FEM analysis is very similar to what was observed in Figure 3 in connection with the comparison of the
corresponding load-end shortening results. Thus, a new discussion on how the results compare with each
other seems unnecessary.
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
u*
P
*
FEM
FSM
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3
W(max)/t
P
*
FEM
FSM
Figure 3: Load-end shortening variation

Figure 4: Load-peak defection variation

The next step is to compare the variation of the FSM results across the width and along the length of the
plate at a given level of loading with the variation of the corresponding FEM results. The variation of the
results will be compared at an end shortening of u . Figures 5 & 6 represent the out-of-plane deflected
shape of the plate at the aforementioned level of loading (i.e. at u
3
*
=
*
=3). Figure 5 depicts the deflected shape
across the plate at the crest of the buckle, and Figure 6 shows the buckled form along the length at the
centerline of the plate. An excellent agreement between FSM and FEM results can be seen in Figure 5 and
Figure 6.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
(y/b)
(
w
/
t
)
FEM
FSM

0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
(x/L)
(
w
/
t
)
FEM
FSM
Figure 5: The out-of-plane deflected shape
at x=L/2
Figure 6: The out-of-plane deflected shape
at y=b/2
Figure 7 depicts the variation of the longitudinal in-plane displacement u along the length at the centerline
of the plate for the same level of loading (i.e. at u
*
=3). Both the FSM and FEM results show that the
displacement starts from an absolute value of zero at the loaded end where no end shortening is applied.
The absolute value of the displacement then increases to a maximum at the other loaded end where the end
shortening u is applied. The good agreement between the results can be observed.
Figure 8 represents the variation of the transverse in-plane displacement along the length at the unloaded
edges of the plate for the same level of loading as that considered in Figures 5,6 and 7 (i.e. at u
*
=3).
Although a small difference between the FSM and FEM results can be seen at different locations along the
length, the consistency between the results can be considered generally very good. For completeness, it is
indicated in this figure that as a result of the unloaded edge of the plate being unconstrained in-plane, this
edge have naturally waved in-plane.
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
(x/L)
-
(
u
/
t
)
x
1
0
0
FEM
FSM
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
(x/L)
(
v
/
t
)
x
1
0
0
FEM
FSM

Figure 7:Variation of in-plane displacement u
at y=b/2
Figure 8:Variation of in-plane displacement
along the length at y=0

CONCLUSIONS
A geometrically non-linear multi-term finite strip, based on the concept of semi-energy method, for the post
buckling analysis of geometrically perfect thin-walled symmetric cross-ply laminated plates under uniform
end shortening is developed. The developed finite strip is then applied to a square plate. The results are
discussed in detail and compared with those obtained from finite element (FEM) analysis. The study of the
results has provided confidence in the validity and capability of the developed finite strip in handling the
post buckling problem of symmetric cross-ply laminated plates.

REFERENCES
[1]- Von Krmn Th, Encyklopdie der Mathematischen Wissenschaften, 1910,Vol. IV4: p.349
[2]- Graves-Smith T.R. and Sridharan S., Post-Buckling Analysis with Finite Strips, J. Engng. Mech. Div.,
ASCE ,1981,107: 869-888
[3]- Hancock G.J. ,Nonlinear Analysis of Thin Sections in Compression, Journal of the Structural Division,
ASCE ,1981,107: 455-471
[4]- Dawe D.J. and Wang S., Postbuckling Analysis of Thin Rectangular Laminated Plates by Spline FSM,
Published in the conference proceedings of Bicentenary Conference on Thin-Walled Structures, University
of Strathclyde, UK,1996
[5]- Rhodes J. and Harvey J.M., Examination of Plate Post-Buckling Behaviour, J. of Eng. Mech. Div.
ASCE 103, 1977:461-478
[6]- Marguerre K., The Apparent Width of Plates in Compression, NACA Technical Memorandum 833,
1937
[7]- H.R. Ovesy, J. Loughlan, H. Assaee, The Compressive Post-Local Buckling Behavior of Thin Plates
Using a Semi-Energy Finite Strip Approach, International Journal of Thin-Walled Structures,2004(42) :
449474
[8]- H.R. Ovesy, J. Loughlan,H. Assaee, Post-Buckling Analysis of Plates Using the Semi-Energy Finite
Strip Approach, Accepted for presentation in the 4
th
International Conference on Thin-Walled Structures,
Loughborough University, UK, June 22-24 ,2004:549-556
[9]- H.R. Ovesy, H. Assaee,Buckling Characteristics of Some Composite Stiffened Boxes Under
Longitudinal Compression or Bending Using Finite Strip Approach, AIAA-2003-1791, Norfolk, VA, USA,
April 2003