Buckling of layered elastic media: A cosserat‐continuum approach and its validation

In this paper the stability of layered, anisotropic, hypoelastic media under initial stress is investigated. The bifurcation problem is formulated and solved numerically by use of a semi‐analytical transfer matrix method. An alternative analytical approach in dealing with inhomogeneous media is developed by representing a periodically layered medium as a homogeneous Cosserat continuum. The Cosserat‐continuum approach is validated against the numerical transfer matrix solution.