Postbuckling analysis of delaminated composite beams by differential quadrature method

In this study the postbuckling response of a one-dimensional delaminated composite beam under axial compression is modeled by the method of differential quadrature. An across-the-width delainination is considered to be in an arbitrary location through-thethickness of the beam. and in between the beamʹs end supports. The formulation incorporates the exact nonlinear curvature of the beam. To model the problem, the delaminated beam is divided into four regions. The buckling is promoted by introducing an initial imperfection along the beam. Then the nonlinear differential equations describing the four regions of the beam and those defining the edge and interface boundary conditions are converted into a set of equivalent differential quadrature form. An arc-length algorithm is used to solve the resulting system of nonlinear equations, and subsequently, the geometrically nonlinear responses of all regions are determined. The numerical results obtained from a series of case studies confirm the efficiency and accuracy of the method. © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.