Plate Buckling Analysis Using A General Higher-order Shear Deformation Theory

The buckling of higher-order shear plates is studied in this paper with a unified formalism. It is shown that usual higher-order shear plate models can be classified as gradient elasticity Mindlin plate models, by augmenting the constitutive law with the shear strain gradient. These equivalences are useful for a hierarchical classification of usual plate theories comprising Kirchhoff plate theory, Mindlin plate theory and third-order shear plate theories. The same conclusions were derived by Challamel [Mech. Res. Commun.38 (2011) 388] for higher-order shear beam models. A consistent variational presentation is derived for all generic plate theories, leading to meaningful buckling solutions. In particular, the variationally-based boundary conditions are obtained for general loading configurations. The buckling of the isotropic or orthotropic composite plates is then investigated analytically for simply supported plates under uniaxial or hydrostatic in-plane loading. An analytical buckling formula is derived that is common to all higher-order shear plate models. It is shown that cubic-based interpolation models for the displacement field are kinematically equivalent, and lead to the same buckling load results. This conclusion concerns for instance the plate models of Reddy [J. Appl. Mech.51 (1984) 745] or the one of Shi [Int. J. Solids Struct.44 (2007) 4299] even though these models are statically distinct (leading to different stress calculations along the cross-section). Finally, a numerical sensitivity study is made.