Global buckling of composite plates containing rectangular delaminations using exact stiffness analysis and smearing method

The global buckling of a composite plate with a single rectangular delamination is studied using a smearing method and employing exact stiffness analysis and the Wittrick–Williams algorithm. Computational efficiency is achieved by avoiding discretisation into elements and non-linear analyses, making the method suitable for parametric studies in preliminary aircraft design. Numerical results for longitudinal compressive loading show the level of...