An improved dynamic model for hub and laminated composite plate system considering warping effect

• The proposed dynamic formulation considers the warping effect.
• The continuity conditions of interlaminar transverse shear stress are satisfied.
• The free shear traction conditions of upper and lower surfaces are satisfied.
• The number of the independent variables of each node is reduced to 13.
• The number of the independent variables does not change with the number of plies.

In previous investigations of rigid-flexible coupling dynamics of the laminated plate, warping effect caused by the deformation of the normal vector of the mid-plane was neglected, which may lead to a significant error of the inter-laminar transverse shear stress. In this paper, an improved dynamic formulation for the rigid-flexible coupling dynamics of hub and laminated composite plate system is proposed based on the global–local higher-order shear deformation theory. By enforcing free shear traction conditions for both surfaces and continuity conditions of displacements and transverse shear stresses on the laminate interfaces, the dynamic equations for multi-body system are established based on the principle of virtual work. A numerical example for dynamic analysis of a hub and laminated composite plate system is presented to show different results obtained by different displacement theories. It is demonstrated that the results obtained by the present formulation satisfy both the continuity conditions of inter-laminar shear stresses and the free shear traction conditions of upper and lower surfaces.