Comparison of first-order and higher-order basic theories in calculating critical buckling load of marine sandwich panels

This paper focuses on some of the most widely used theories for global buckling of sandwich panels, (a) Allen's thickface version formula (first-order), (b) High-Order Sandwich Panel Theory (HSAPT) and (c) Extended High-OrderSandwich Panel Theory (EHSAPT). These three theories provide the most accurate and well-known buckling analysismethods for sandwich panels. In order to evaluate the accuracy and correctness of these theories, the bucklingbehavior of some carbon/epoxy PVC core composite sandwich panels are experimentally studied in this work.