The buckling and post buckling behavior of simply supported thin rectangular plates in axial compression is considered in this dissertation. A non- linear model for perfect and imperfect plates is developed based on Marguerre non-linear plate theory. The discretized model is considered as having two degrees of freedom characterized by buckling in m and (m+1) halfsinewaves axially and uncoupled and coupled solutions are obtained analytically by the use of symbolic algebra software. A detailed parametric study is conducted to identify all possible equilibrium solutions and establish their stability. The influence of initial geometric imperfections on the energy surface, number and stability of solutions is taken into account as an indispensable part of the analysis. The results shown that modal coupling has a strong influence on the post-buckling behavior of these plates and may explain abrupt changes of waveform of plates in the post-buckling range. Also, the influence of imperfections and initial compressive stress on the natural frequencies of the plate is analyzed and it is shown how these frequencies can be used to estimate safe buckling loads of rectangular plates non-destructively.