Analysis of laminated shear-flexible angle-ply plates

A recently developed C0-type triangular composite plate element, based on the assumption of transverse inextensibility and layerwise constant shear-angle theory (LCST), is utilized to analyze antisymmetric and symmetric angle-ply plates subjected to distributed transverse loading. Effect of numerical integration on the rate of convergence of displacements and moments is investigated in detail. Comparison of the numerical results computed using the present triangular element with their analytical counterparts based on the classical lamination theory (CLT) in the thin plate regime also forms a major part of the present investigation. Limited comparisons with the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) results, computed using assumed stress hybrid finite elements, are also presented. Numerical results presented also include the effect of fiber orientation angle on the displacements and moments for thin laminates. Finally, the effect of thickness on the computed transverse displacement (deflection), interfacial inplane displacement and inplane stress is also thoroughly investigated.