Vibration and Buckling of Sandwich Laminates having Interfacial Imperfections

Vibration and buckling of sandwich laminates are studied for different degrees of imperfections at the layer interfaces using a refined plate theory. In this plate theory, the through-thickness variation of transverse shear stresses is represented by piecewise parabolic functions, where the continuity of these stresses is satisfied at the layer interfaces. The transverse shear stresses free condition at the top and bottom surfaces of the plate is also satisfied. The interlaminar imperfections are represented by in-plane displacement jumps at the layer interfaces by a linear spring layer model. Many new results are generated that should be useful for future research as there is no such published result on imperfect sandwich plates.