Experimental and theoretical study of the buckling of narrow thin plates on an elastic foundation under compression

The paper describes the processes of elastic deformation of thin films under mechanical loading. The film is modeled longitudinally by a compressed plate arranged on an elastic foundation. A computer model of the buckling of the narrow thin plate with a delamination portion located on an elastic foundation is constructed. This paper also touches upon the supercritical behavior of the plate–substrate system. The experiments on the axial compression of a metal strip adhered to a rubber plate are performed, and 2 to 7 buckling modes are obtained therein. The critical loads and buckling modes obtained in the numerical calculations are compared with the experimental data. It is shown that there is the possibility of progressive delamination of the metal plate from the foundation if the critical load is exceeded. It is found that the use of the proposed approach, which, in contrast to other approaches, accounts for the elastic deformation of the substrate, causes the dependence between the critical bending stress and the stiffness of the foundation.