Abstract
The buckling of laminated composite spherical shell cap with and without a cutout subjected to transverse load is investigated. The geometrical non-linear analysis is carried out using the finite element method based on the first-order shear deformation theory. An eight noded degenerated isoparametric shell element with five degrees of freedom at each node is considered. The geometric non-linear behaviour and the collapse pressures with the associated mode shapes are presented for simply supported and clamped symmetrically and anti-symmetrically laminated cross-ply spherical shell cap without a cutout subjected to uniform normal pressure. The dependence of collapse pressure on the size of a central circular cutout is also studied.