The effect of buckling and post-buckling behavior of laminated composite plates with rotationally restrained and Pasternak foundation on stacking sequence optimization

This paper applies stacking sequence optimization for maximizing the buckling load of rotationally restrained laminated composite rectangular plates with different boundary conditions resting on an elastic Pasternak foundation subjected to uniaxial and biaxial in-plane static loads. The Mindlin Plate Theory (MPT), which considers the firstorder shear deformation effect, was used to extract the characteristic equations of the plates under in-plane loading, including plate-foundation interaction. The buckling problem of laminated plates was analyzed by the Rayleigh-Ritz method. The aim of optimization was to maximize the buckling load and post-buckling load capacities using Genetic Algorithm (GA) method, and the design variable was the ply orientation. The results showed that the optimal orientation, o, of the laminated square plate under biaxial in-plane loading in various conditions was 45O, approximately. The existence of a foundation, clamped boundary conditions, and high aspect ratio led to increase in the optimal orientation.