EFFICIENT HIGHER-ORDER COMPOSITE PLATE-THEORY FOR GENERAL LAMINATION CONFIGURATIONS

An efficient higher order plate theory for laminated composites is developed. A composite plate theory for general lamination configurations is obtained by superimposing a cubic varying displacement field on a zig-zag linearly varying displacement. The theory has the same number of dependent unknowns as first-order shear deformation theory, and the number of unknowns is independent of the number of layers. The displacement satisfies transverse shear stress continuity conditions at the interface between layers as well as shear free surface conditions. Thus, an artificial shear correction factor is not needed. To demonstrate and compare with other theories, the analytical solution for cylindrical bending is obtained. The present theory gives deflections and stresses that compare well with other known theories.