Buckling Analysis of Tapered Composite Plates Using Ritz Method Based on First-order Shear Deformation Theory

Tapered composite plates have various engineering applications such as helicopter yoke, robot arms and turbine blades in which the structure needs to be stiff at one end and flexible at another end. No closed form analytical solution of tapered composite plates using Ritz method based on first_order shear deformation theory (FSDT) is available at present. In the present paper, the buckling analysis of different types of composite plates with longitudinal-internal-ply-drop-off configuration is investigated using Ritz method. The buckling analysis of these plates is also conducted using ANSYS^®. The efficiency and accuracy of the developed formulation are established in comparison with available solutions, where applicable. A detailed parametric study has been conducted on various taper and lay-up configurations, all made of NCT/301 graphite-epoxy, in order to investigate the effects of taper angle, length-to-height ratio, length-to-width ratio, boundary conditions, and taper and lay-up configurations.