On non-axisymmetric buckling modes of inhomogeneous circular plates

Unsymmetrical buckling of nonuniform circular plates with elastically restrained edge and subjected to normal pressure is studied in this paper. The asymmetric part of the solution is sought in terms of multiples of the harmonics of the angular coordinate. A numerical method is employed to obtain the lowest load value at which waves in the circumferential direction can appear. The effect of material heterogeneity and boundary on the buckling load is examined. For a plate with elastically restrained edge, the buckling pressure and mode number increase with a rise of spring stiffness. Increasing of the elasticity modulus to the plate edge leads to increasing of the buckling pressure, but the mode number does not change. If the translational flexibility coefficient is small, decreasing of the elasticity modulus to the shell (plate) edge leads to sufficient lowering of the buckling pressure.