Static and free vibration analysis of composite plates using spline finite strips with higher-order shear deformation

A spline finite strip method is developed for static and free vibration analysis of composite plates using Reddy's higher-order shear deformation theory. This analysis does not require shear correction coefficients, but yields improved accuracy for thick laminates. In this method, a consistent interpolation scheme is achieved for transverse shear strains. Thus, shear locking for thin plates is avoided. In addition, the selected shape functions can accurately simulate a linear variation of transverse bending moment in the transverse inplane direction for the laminates with bending and inplane coupling, so that the convergence is enhanced. Results of numerical examples are compared with existing solutions.