Buckling and Wrinkling Analysis of Composite Sandwich Plates Using Finite Element Method

Composite sandwich plates are widely used in aerospace, automobile and shipbuilding industries. Composite sandwich plates have many different types of failure modes. A comparative study of composite sandwich plates with different finite element modeling approaches for predicting buckling and wrinkling failure response is described in this thesis. The research considers composite sandwich plates with isotropic and anisotropic face-sheets with a thick core. Finite element solutions are obtained using Abaqus/CAE 2016 software by conventional shell element models and conventional shell/solid element models. This study investigates results obtained using finite element methods and compares them to experimental and analytical solutions for overall buckling and face-sheet wrinkling. Results of the study indicate that finite element methods provide an accurate and effective modeling approach for predicting both overall buckling and wrinkling response.;Furthermore, the study also explored buckling response of composite sandwich panels with different core thickness and face-sheet fiber angle orientation. The study found that the shell/solid element model provides an appropriate and effective modeling method to predict both overall buckling and local wrinkling behavior in composite sandwich plates.