Effect of non-uniform in-plane bending and edge conditions on the stability behaviour of laminated panels with and without cutouts

Abstract The effect of uniaxial and biaxial non-uniform in-plane bending and cutout sizes on the buckling behaviour of laminated composite panels has been investigated by developing finite elements formulation. The effect of shear deformation is included in the formulation. Therefore, this formulation is applicable for both thin and moderately thick panels. The panel is modelled by using 9-noded heterosis plate element. The main advantage of this element is that, it offers high level accuracy, even for extremely thin plate configuration. The effect of various parameters such as type of in-plane bending, cutout size, boundary conditions and ply-orientations are also studied in this work. Finally, it is shown that the in-plane bending and cutout sizes have a remarkable effect on the buckling behaviour of a panel.