Elastic Instability of an Orthotropic Elliptic Plate

On the basis of von Karman equations and using the general bifurcation theory,the elastic instability of an orthotropic elliptic plate whose edge is subjected to a uniform plane compression is discussed.Following the well-known Liapunov-Schmidt process the existance of bifurcation solution at a simple eigenvalue is shown and the asymptotic expression is obtained by means of the perturbation expansion with a small parameter.Finally,by using the finite element method,the critical loads of the plate are computed and the post-buckling behavior is analysed.And also the effect of material and geome trie parameters on the stability is studied.