Buckling and Postbuckling of Anisotropic Laminated Doubly Curved Panels under Lateral Pressure

Abstract This study presents buckling and postbuckling analyses of a thin anisotropic laminated doubly curved panel with rectangular planform subjected to lateral pressure. The material of each layer in the panel is assumed to be linearly elastic, anisotropic and fiber-reinforced. The governing equations are obtained by using classical shell theory and von Karman strain displacement relations. Both nonlinear prebuckling deformations and initial geometric imperfections of the panel are taken into account. The closed-form solutions for buckling and postbuckling analyses of the thin anisotropic laminated doubly curved panel are performed using the two-step perturbation method and the boundary layer theory for shell buckling, which are employed to determine the interaction behavior of buckling loads and postbuckling equilibrium paths. Postbuckling response of perfect and imperfect, anisotropic laminated doubly curved panels with respect to the material and geometric properties and load-proportional parameters under different sets of thermal environmental conditions is numerically illustrated. New results illustrate that there exists the circumferential stress along with the associate shear stress and twisting when the anisotropic laminated doubly curved panel is subjected to lateral pressure. The shear stress, no matter how small it is, will affect the buckling loads and postbuckling equilibrium paths of the anisotropic doubly curved panels.