Prediction of transverse stability of composite micro-curvature plates

This article is focused on the instability of marine composite micro-curvature plates subjected to transverse load, which is different from the axial loading case. The jump instability mechanism of orthogonal laminated plates has been analyzed, and transverse stability is predicted through the modified formula. Based on the classical elastic stability theory, suitable transverse stability analysis models for cylindrical and spherical shells are proposed. The instability load of the plate is predicted theoretically. The influential factors of the instability load are methodically analyzed based on an orthogonal experiment. Finally, according to the correlation analysis results of design variables, the calculation formula of the instability load is appropriately modified by considering the chord length of the plate. The obtained results show that the thickness has the most significant effect on the instability load, followed by the radius and the chord length. The instability load formula based on the elastic stability theory does not consider the chord length, which leads to low accurate results for the case of unclosed structures such as spherical crown plates. A comparison study confirms that the predicted results by the modified formula are generally closer to the experimentally observed data for the unclosed micro-curvature plate. In the present investigation, the load-bearing capacity of plates is evaluated in conjunction with the theory, nonlinear numerical simulation, and experimental research. Further, it can be applied to the theoretical prediction of the instability load for composite micro-curvature plates.