Approximate analysis for buckling of compression loaded long rectangular plates with flexural/twist anisotropy

Approximate expressions for buckling loads of long rectangular plates with flexural/twist anisotropy and simply supported edges are derived. The novelty of the current approach lies in the use of bounded non-dimensional quantities to reduce the complexity of formulation to such a state that closed form solutions are possible. Such expressions are validated with respect to detailed finite element analysis and numerical solutions found in the literature. A number of studies are conducted using a composite material with extremely large ply stiffness in the fibre direction and whose layers are arranged into extreme stacking sequences. Such an arrangement maximizes anisotropic effects and so challenges the validity of the solutions in a most testing manner. Despite such extreme studies excellent agreement is found.