ABSTRACT
Laminated composite plates are extensively used in diverse applications. In many structural applications, plates are used as primary load-bearing structural elements and efficient design and analysis of these structural elements is critical for overall acceptable performance of the structure. The plate-bending equilibrium equations can be derived by considering force and moment equilibrium of the differential element in the deformed configuration. Buckling is an eigenvalue problem, where the eigenvalues are the buckling loads. The lowest buckling load is of critical importance in design and analysis and it is often referred to as the critical buckling load. The middle surface displacements and the loads along the edges, which are constrained by the physical conditions of the plate along the edges, constitute the boundary conditions. The boundary conditions specified in terms of the loads on the edges are called static or natural boundary conditions.
