Abstract
In this paper, the nonlinear oscillations and chaotic dynamics of a parametrically excited simply supported symmetric cross-ply laminated composite rectangular thin plate are further investigated. Considering geometric nonlinearity and nonlinear damping, a two-degree-of-freedom nonlinear system under parametric excitation is obtained to give the nonlinear governing equations of motion for laminated composite plate subjected to in-plane load. The method of multiple scales is utilized to obtain the averaged equations that are numerically solved to obtain the steady bifurcation responses and analysis of stability for laminated composite thin plate. It is illustrated that under certain conditions laminated composite thin plate may have the multiple steady bifurcation solutions and jumping may occur. The chaotic motion of rectangular symmetric cross-ply laminated composite thin plate is also found by using numerical simulation. It is found that the occurrence of the periodic, quasi-periodic and chaotic motions for a parametrically excited four-edges simply supported rectangular symmetric cross-ply laminated composite thin plate depends on the parametric excitation.