Buckling analysis of cracked plates using hierarchical trigonometric functions

The present paper deals with the estimation of buckling loads of plates with cracking damages. The hierarchical trigonometric functions are used to define the displacement function of the cracked plate. Selective choosing of the trigonometric functions satisfies the various boundary conditions of a plate bounded by support members in a continuous plated structure. Moreover, the analysis of the cracked plate can be carried out with a minimum number of equations accurately. In the present paper, the buckling loads of plates with various types of cracks, such as edge crack and central crack, are estimated under uniaxial compressive load, biaxial compressive load and in-plane shear load. The results are found to correlate well with those obtained using a finite element method.