Explicit local buckling analysis of rotationally-restrained orthotropic plates under uniform shear

The explicit closed-form local buckling solution of in-plane shear-loaded orthotropic plates with two opposite edges simply supported and other two opposite edges either both rotationally restrained or one rotationally restrained and the other free is presented. Based on the boundary condition of the other two opposite edges, two types of plates are considered: the RR (both the edges rotationally restrained) and RF (one edge restrained and the other free) plate elements. Different plate buckled shape functions are proposed, and the approximate explicit expressions for the buckling loads are derived using the Rayleigh–Ritz method for the plate with the generic rotationally-restrained (R) boundary conditions which can be reduced to two extreme cases, i.e., simply supported (S) and clamped (C). The accuracy of the derived explicit solutions is verified by comparing the predictions with the existing solutions and numerical finite element analysis, and excellent agreements are obtained. The effects of material and boundary restraining parameters on the local shear buckling behavior of the plate elements are discussed. The derived explicit formulas for the shear buckling loads are straightforward, efficient and reliable for preliminary engineering design and analysis of composite structures under primarily shear-dominant loading conditions.