This paper analyzes the stability of the rectangular thin plate with sinusoidal changes in the plate thickness combined with initial curvature based on the large deflection theory. The buckling load for simply supported plates is defined using the energy method. The influence of the thickness variation parameter and the initial curvature parameter on the critical loads is investigated . | Vietnam Journal of Mechanics, VAST , Vol. 28, No. 2 (2006), pp. 103-110 BUCKLING OF THE INITIAL IMPERFECT RECTANGULAR THIN PLATE WITH VARIABLE THICKNESS NGUYEN THI HIEN LUONG AND DANG THUY MINH TUONG Department of Civil Engineering, University of Technology of Ho Chi Minh City Abstract. This paper analyzes the stability of the rectangular thin plate with sinusoidal changes in the plate thickness combined with initial curvature based on the large deflection theory. The buckling load for simply supported plates is defined using the energy method. The influence of the thickness variation parameter and the initial curvature parameter on the crit ical loads is investigated . 1. INTRODUCTION Plates and shells as structural elements are seldom perfectly and of uniform thickness and the amount of init ial curvature and variable thickness can affect the load-carrying capacity of structures. Recently, the problem of the influence of the thickness variation and the initial curvature on the buckling load has been researched by several authors, such as Timoshenko [1], Elishakoff et al [2], Zhiming [3], Yeh et al [4], Mateus et al [5], Nguyen and Tran [6], Ciancio [7]. In this paper, based on the theory of plates of large deflection, the stability study of imperfect rectangular thin plates with initial curvature and variable thickness is a major object. The energy method is used to determine the critical load factor of plates with variable thickness combined with initial deflection. The influence of the thickness non-uniformity parameter and the initial curvature parameter to the buckling load is investigated. General asymptotic formulae for the buckling load are derived and numerical results are investigated for compressive plates with the simply supported boundary condition (Fig. 1). 2. ENERGY APPROACH This section aims at the study of the combined effect of thickness variation and initial imperfection on the buckling behavior of the rectangular thin plate. The .
