Buckling characteristics of composite sandwich plates with corrugated core

Buckling characteristics of composite sandwich plates with corrugated core under transverse loading is studied using finite element method. The sandwich construction constitutes of a repetitive corrugated core and two face panels. The corrugated core has either a triangular shape or a rectangular shape. The material for both face and core panels has the same laminate construction, which is either a [±α]S or a [0/α]S. The fiber orientation angle α in the laminates is varied from 0 to 90o. The study first considers the local deformations of the face panels and the web panels. It then determines the buckling modes and critical buckling loads of the sandwich structures. The effect of fiber orientation angle on the critical buckling loads of the sandwich plates with two different core shapes is demonstrated.