Buckling of composite plates with U-shaped cutouts

Abstract

The influence of cutout shape upon the buckling stability of multilayered rectangular epoxy plates reinforced by glass fiber, with different orientation angles is investigated. U-shaped cutouts are made on the long sides symmetrically. The investigated plates are simply supported on the loaded edges (i.e. short sides) and free on the unloaded edges. The plates without cutouts are examined theoretically to confirm experimental and Finite Element (FE) results. The FE and experimental results are found out for different U-shaped cutouts sizes. U-notch shape effects are examined depending on notch depth and notch root radius. According to results, the effect of notch depth is stronger than that of the notch root radius on buckling loads of plates. But, in some cases, although plates containing U-notch, no reduction is obtained in buckling loads. Obtained results with experimental, theoretical, and FE are in good agreement with each other.