A single-domain Ritz approach for buckling and post-buckling analysis of cracked plates

A Ritz approach for the analysis of buckling and post-buckling of plates with through-the-thickness cracks is presented. The plate behavior is described by the first order shear deformation theory and von Kar- man’s geometric nonlinearity. The admissible functions used in the displacements approximation are se- ries of regular orthogonal polynomial supplemented with special functions able to decribe the diconti- nuity across the crack and the singularity at the crack tips; boundary functions are used to fullfill the homogeneous essential boundary conditions. Convergence studies and analysis results are presented for buckling and post-buckling of plates with a central through-the-thickness crack evidencing differences in the structural response between pre- and post-buckling regimes, which can substantially affect the plate residual strength. The performed analyses show the efficiency and potential of the method, which pro- vides accurate results in conjunction with a reduced number of degrees of freedom and simplified data preparation.