A two variable refined plate theory for orthotropic plate analysis

A new theory, which involves only two unknown functions and yet takes into account shear deformations, is presented for orthotropic plate analysis. Unlike any other theory, the theory presented gives rise to only two governing equations, which are completely uncoupled for static analysis, and are only inertially coupled (i.e., no elastic coupling at all) for dynamic analysis. Number of unknown functions involved is only two, as against three in case of simple shear deformation theories of Mindlin and Reissner. The theory presented is variationally consistent, has strong similarity with classical plate theory in many aspects, does not require shear correction factor, gives rise to transverse shear stress variation such that the transverse shear stresses vary parabolically across the thickness satisfying shear stress free surface conditions. Well studied examples, available in literature, are solved to validate the theory. The results obtained for plate with various thickness ratios using the theory are not only substantially more accurate than those obtained using the classical plate theory, but are almost comparable to those obtained using higher order theories having more number of unknown functions.