Analytical solution methods for eigenbuckling of symmetric cross-ply composite laminates

Based on the first-order shear deformation theory, this paper explores the analytical methods for eigenbuckling of symmetric cross-ply rectangular composite laminates with a pair of parallel edges simply supported and the remaining two edges arbitrarily constrained. The main contribution of present paper lies in two aspects: one is to present a simple and effective analytical method, namely, the separation-of-variables method, which can generate the closed-form buckling solutions without any computational difficulty; the other is to incorporate the accurate computation method of exponential matrix into the state space technique to avoid the inevitable numerically ill-conditioned problems reported in several literatures. The results obtained via both analytical methods are identical, and a good agreement with their counterparts in literature is observed. The separation-of-variables method can generate exact solutions within 1 s, which is impossible if the state space method is employed. Besides, the combination of the accurate computation method of exponential matrix and the state space method greatly improves the computational efficiency and gives correct results compared with the straightforward use of state space method.