Stability of laminated composite plates with cut-outs

Critical buckling loads of laminated fibre-reinforced plastic square panels have been obtained using the finite element method. Various boundary conditions, lay-up details, fibre orientations, cut-out sizes are considered. A 36 degrees of freedom triangular element, based on the classical lamination theory (CLT) has been used for the analysis. The performance of this element is validated by comparing results with some of those available in literature. New results have been given for several cases of boundary conditions for [0°/ ± 45°/90°]s laminates. The effect of fibre-orientation in the ply on the buckling loads has been investigated by considering [±?]6s laminates.