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

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