Bending of composites and sandwich plates subjected to localized lateral loadings: a comparison of various theories

The stress and displacement fields in the vicinity of the loaded areas were compared to three-dimensional elasticity solutions and to available finite element analyses. It has been concluded in particular that: the issues that are already know for classical problems require amendment if localized loadings problems are analyzed; layer-wise analyses are required to capture localized stress/fields in the neighborhood of the loading area; transverse normal deformation must be taken into account to accurately predict behaviors of the sandwich core.