Postbuckling of Hyperelastic Plates

Abstract

Curvature is simply expressed as the second derivative of the plate deflection in prior studies of postbuckling of plates. It is shown in this paper that the higherorder terms in curvature should be retained, consistent with Koiter's postbuckling theory. This paper also solves the dilemma whether the increase of postbuckling load is proportional to the square of the ratio of the postbuckling deflection w to the plate thickness t, (w/t)2, as in most prior studies, or to the characteristic inplane length L of the plate, (w/L)2, as discovered in some recent studies.