Analysis of the snap phenomenon in buckled plates (Q1321895)

An investigation is made into various aspects of the snap phenomenon in buckled plates, wherein a plate loaded in postbuckling encounters a secondary instability which initiates dynamic snaps of different waveforms. First, a method is presented for the analysis of the geometrically nonlinear equilibrium behaviour of thin rectangular plates subjected to in-plane normal loads and/or pressure loads. Transverse displacements are represented as a series of buckling modes. The approach is similar to that used in numerous other investigations, but is significant in that it provides the ability to model a variety of boundary conditions and combined-load scenarios using a single, unified method. This method is then used to analyze the snap behaviour of a uniaxially loaded aluminum plate of length-to-width ratio 5.4 which was previously tested and observed to snap in postbuckling. It is found that the snap- initiation load is significantly less when the loaded ends are clamped than when the loaded ends are simply supported, and the difference in snap initiation loads is attributed to fundamental differences in the secondary instability mode shapes for the two cases. Geometric imperfections of small amplitude are found to affect greatly the snap- initiation load, and can even change the fundamental character of buckling and postbuckling response. Two approximate methods which have been used in the literature for predicting sudden changes in the postbuckling waveform are also discussed in the context of the current work.