Critical buckling load discrepancy of composite laminates

Based on the random field theory, the random field was discreted by local average method with the material properties of fibers and matrix and the fiber volume fraction as variables. The Monte-Carlo simulation of the critical buckling load discrepancy for composite laminates was performed combining MATLAB and PDS module of ANSYS, and the influences of the discrepancy features of various random field variables, the correlation distance, the symmetry characteristic as well as the boundary condition were analyzed on the discrepancy of the critical buckling load. The results show that various random field variables have different influences on the critical buckling load discrepancy for composite laminates, among which the fiber volume fraction being the strongest factor and fiber and matrix properties being the next. The coefficient of variance(COV) for the critical buckling load has size effect and it reduces individually with the plate size increases. Reducing the correlation length can effectively incline the discrepancy of critical buckling load. The COV for the critical buckling load for symmetric laminates is slightly bigger than that for antisymmetric laminates. The COV for simply-supported laminates is generally less than that for two corresponding sides fixed-supported laminates.