Buckling analysis of two-layer beams with an asymmetric delamination

A one-dimensional mathematical model is developed to analyze the buckling behavior of a two-layer beam with single delamination under clamped and simply supported boundary conditions. The characteristic equation governing buckling is developed in terms of newly introduced normalized axial and bending stiffnesses. Critical buckling loads are accurately obtained and the accuracy of the model for a homogeneous delaminated beam is verified with the previously published data. A good agreement between the results is observed. Effects of the stiffnesses on the critical buckling load are investigated for various delamination sizes. A monotonic relation is observed between the buckling load and the axial stiffness or the bending stiffness. A new parameter, effective-slenderness ratio, is defined and introduced which gives a good perceptive of local, mixed and global buckling phenomenon. The accurate solution can serve as a benchmark solution for other numerical schemes.