Linear analysis of laminated multilayered plates with the application of zig-zag function

An Equivalent Single Layer Model for linear static analysis of multilayered plates is considered in the paper. The displacements field of the First Order Shear Deformation Theory is supplemented with the Murakami's function to emulate the zig-zag effect. The applied Reissner's Mixed Variational Theorem allows to assume an independent shear stress field of parabolic distribution in each layer and to satisfy the equilibrium conditions at the layer interfaces. The Finite Element implementation of the model is based on the application of the 9-node Lagrangian element with a selective reduced integration. Two numerical examples of symmetrically laminated plates are presented to illustrate the accuracy of presented approach.