Postbuckling analysis of laminated composite shells under shear loads

The postbuckling behavior of laminated composite plates and shells, subjected to various shear loadings, is presented, using a modified 8-ANS method. The finite element, based on a modified first-order shear deformation theory, is further improved by the combined use of assumed natural strain method. We analyze the influence of the shell element with the various location and number of enhanced membrane and shear interpolation. Using the assumed natural strain method with proper interpolation functions, the present shell element generates neither membrane nor shear locking behavior even when full integration is used in the formulation. The effects of various types of lay-ups, materials and number of layers on initial buckling and postbuckling response of the laminated composite plates and shells for various shear loading have been discussed. In addition, the effect of direction of shear load on the postbuckling behavior is studied. Numerical results and comparisons of the present results with those found in the literature for typical benchmark problems involving symmetric cross-ply laminated composites are found to be excellent and show the validity of the developed finite element model. The study is relevant to the simulation of barrels, pipes, wing surfaces, aircrafts, rockets and missile structures subjected to intense complex loading.