A particle method development for analysing the post-buckling behaviour of composite plate with cut-out

The present study investigates nonlinear buckling and post-buckling behaviors of composite plates with the circular/elliptical cut-out using Particle Semi-Energy (PSE) method. The semi-energy is based on the solution of the compatibility equation obtained from an Airy force and out-of-plane displacement functions. The unknown parameters of these functions were determined by minimizing the potential energy. The integrals of the potential energy were then replaced by the summations at the perforated plate particle (node). The cut-out was easily modeled using these nodes. This method enjoys some advantages, namely easy cut-out modeling by nodes and proposing just one of the displacement elds (i.e., out-of-plane). According to the results, there was good agreement (1.25%) between the post-buckling loads derived from PSE in this paper and the experimental test of the literature. According to the experimental test results, the accuracy of Finite Element Method (FEM) was 7.5%. This study also evaluated the effects of rotating the elliptical cut-out and replacing it with two other circular cut-outs in the same areas on the post-buckling load.