An assessment of shell theories for buckling ofcircular cylindrical laminated composite panels loaded inaxial compression

Buckling loads of circular cylindrical laminated composite panels are obtained using Sanders Koiter "e[g[ Sanders\ 0848^ Koiter\ 0848#\ Love "e[g[ Love\ 0816# and Donnell "e[g[ Loo\ 0846# shell theories with a _rst! order\ shear!deformation approach and a Rayleigh Ritz method that accounts for di}erent boundary conditions and material anisotropy[ Results obtained using Sanders Koiter\ Love\ Donnell shell theories are compared with those obtained from _nite element simulations\ where the curved panels are modeled using nine!node quadrilateral continuum!based shell elements that are independent of any shell theory[ Comparisons with _nite element results indicate that Donnell|s theory could be in error for some lamination schemes and geometrical parameter