Buckling and Vibration Analysis of Composite Plates
Summary
Composite plates, formed by stacking layers of fibre-reinforced materials, combine high strength-to-weight ratios with tailored stiffness properties. Their anisotropic and laminated nature gives rise to complexity in both buckling and vibration behaviour. Buckling analysis addresses the critical loads at which abrupt out-of-plane deformations occur, influenced by fibre orientation, stacking sequence, geometric imperfections and boundary restraints. Vibration analysis determines natural frequencies and mode shapes that govern dynamic response, fatigue life and noise emission. Modern research integrates analytical solutions, such as Lévy-type series, with high-order numerical schemes including discontinuous Galerkin and Ritz-based approaches. First-order and higher-order shear deformation theories capture transverse shear effects essential for moderately thick laminates. Computational advances enable p- and h-refinement, meshless techniques and adaptive integration to improve accuracy and efficiency. Applications span aerospace wing skins, wind turbine blades and marine panels, where global stability under static and dynamic loads is critical. Interdisciplinary efforts now link damage evolution, material degradation and acoustic-structural interactions, forging a unified framework for predictive design and structural health monitoring.
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Buckling and Vibration Analysis of Composite Plates publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in buckling and vibration analysis of composite plates across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Buckling: Sudden lateral deformation of a plate under compressive loading leading to loss of load-carrying capacity.
Vibration analysis: Determination of natural frequencies and associated mode shapes governing a structure’s dynamic response.
Composite plate: Laminate structure composed of multiple bonded layers, each with distinct fibre orientation and material properties.
Discontinuous Galerkin method: Finite element technique permitting discontinuities at element interfaces for high-order spatial accuracy.
Lévy-type solution: Analytical series solution employing separable functions to solve stability problems under specific boundary conditions.
Shear deformation theory: Plate theory incorporating transverse shear strains to improve accuracy for thick laminates over classical models.
References
- High-order accurate transient and free-vibration analysis of plates and shells. Journal of Sound and Vibration (2024).
- The R-functions combined with the Ritz method: An assessment on the integration schemes. Composite Structures (2025).
- Lévy-type solutions for the buckling analysis of unsymmetrically laminated plates with rotational restraints for various plate theories. Archive of Applied Mechanics (2023).
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