Post-buckling of thick symmetric laminated plates under end-shortening and normal pressure using semi-energy finite strip method

The application of the semi-energy CLPT-FSM for the non-linear analysis of symmetric laminates is extended to include the effects of normal pressure loading in addition to the end-shortening. Moreover, a new semi-energy FSM is developed based on the concept of FSDT theory in order to attempt the large deflection solution for relatively thick laminates. It is noted that for a given level of accuracy, the developed semi-energy FSM requires a markedly lower number of degrees of freedom compared to those of FEM analysis. Hence, the semi-energy FSM is more computationally efficient than the conventional energy based schemes.