Postbuckling analysis of cracked stiffned plates by pb–2 Rayleigh-Ritz method

A Rayleigh-Ritz approach for the analysis of buckling and post-buckling behaviorof cracked composite stiffened plates is presented. The structure is thought as the assembly ofplate elements modeled by the first order shear deformation theory. Continuity along the edgescommon to contiguous elements are enforced by using penalty techniques, which also allow tostraightforwardly implement efficient crack modeling strategies. General symmetric and unsymmetricstacking sequences are considered and numerical procedures have been developed andused to validate the present solution by comparison with FEA results. Original results are alsopresented for post-buckling solution of multilayered stiffened plates with through-the-thicknesscracks, showing the effects of large displacements on the cracked plate behavior.