ANALYSIS ON COMPRESSION BUCKLING OF STITCHED ORTHOTROPIC LAMINATES INCLUDING ARBITRARY DELAMINATION

A continuous model for determining the buckling strains of stitched laminates including arbitrary embedded delamination is developed. The analysis allows stitched laminates to have a multiple number of delminations of various shapes and sizes, and at any locations. The method treats the discontinuous laminates as a body without delamination but with a force system added at a number of discrete points in the delaminated region so as to make the net interfacial tractions to vanish at these points. Hence, the procedure solves problems of delaminated stitched laminates directly as a continuous system. Numerical results accounting for the effects of location of stitches in the delamination region, stitching density, and equivalent stiffness coefficient of stitching thread on buckling strains are presented.