Snap-through of bi-stable rectangular unsymmetric cross-ply composite laminates

The snap-through of two stable configurations of rectangular unsymmetric cross-ply composite laminate were investigated through experimental and numerical ways. The critical loads of snap-through of the two stable configurations were measured in experiments, and a non-linear finite element model of bi-stable rectangular unsymmetric cross-ply composite laminate was built. The finite element model successfully predicts the two stable configurations and further predicts their critical loads of snap-through. It shows that the predicted results agree well with the experiment results. Finite element analysis(FEA) and experiments both reveal that the characteristics of snap-through of the two stable configurations are discrepant, and the corresponding critical loads are different greatly.