Buckling and postbuckling of rotationally-restrained laminated composite plates under shear

Based on the Galerkin method, a semi-analytical buckling and postbuckling solution of laminated composite plates with the boundary edges elastically-restrained against rotation is presented. The considered laminated plates are symmetric cross-ply, and they are loaded in pure in-plane shear or combined in-plane shear and compression. The four plate edges are elastically restrained against rotation to different degrees. The transverse deflection and force functions in the governing equations of laminated plates are expanded in the generalized double Fourier series, and the deformation shape function along one direction is constructed through a unique weighting combination of three kinds of trigonometric series. The validity study shows that the present method is effective in performing shear buckling and postbuckling analyses of laminated composite plates with all four edges arbitrarily elastically-restrained against rotation. •Semi-analytical shear buckling and postbuckling solution of rotationally-restrained laminated composite plates is developed.•Deformation shape function is uniquely constructed by weighting three kinds of trigonometric series.•Laminated composite plates with all four edges of different rotationally-restrained stiffness are treated.