On the elastic stability of simply supported anisotropic sandwich panels

Here, the elastic stability behavior of simply supported anisotropic sandwich flat panels subjected to mechanical in-plane loads is investigated using an analytical approach. The formulation is based on first-order shear deformation theory and the shear correction factors employed are based on energy consideration that depends on the lay-up as well as material properties. The governing equations are obtained using the Raleigh–Ritz method assuming a combination of sine and cosine functions in the form of double Fourier series for the displacement fields. The effectiveness of the integrated formulation is tested for global characteristics considering examples related to multi-layered laminates and sandwich panels for which solutions are available.