Buckling and Postbuckling Analysis of Composite Laminates with Piezoelectric layers using Layerwise Theory

In this study, the buckling and postbuckling behavior of composite laminates with piezoelectric layers subjected to compressive in-plane loading have been investigated. The effects of coupled electro-mechanical field on the postbuckling and bifurcation point in cross-ply and general lay-up sequences have been studied using layerwise theory (LWT). The LWT used in this study for analyzing the piezo-composite laminate is based on the assumptions of the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT). In order to obtain the equilibrium equations, the principle of minimum potential energy has been employed. The obtained nonlinear equilibrium equations have been solved using Newton-Raphson iterative algorithm. Furthermore, the three dimensional finite element analysis has been performed to examine the accuracy of the results obtained using the proposed method. The obtained analytical results are in good agreement with those achieved through the finite element analysis. Obtained results showed that, location of the piezoelectric layers have significant effect on the buckling and postbuckling behavior of the composite plates. Moreover, number of degrees of freedom which is used in proposed method are less than finite element method which, decreased the computational time cost.