A high-order shear element for nonlinear vibration analysis of composite layered plates and shells

Abstract

This paper introduces a family of high-order facetted shell elements for linear and nonlinear stress and vibration analysis of composite layered plate and shell structures. Engineering slope angles are employed in element equations, and transverse stresses are expanded over the thickness. The lateral deflection is modelled by conforming or non-conforming Hermitian shape functions, within rectangular or paralellogrammic and triangular elements. Nonlinear terms associated with geometrical nonlinearity are also derived using a practical approach based upon the actual components of strain. A finite element programming package was designed employing the newly developed elements. Several case studies have been investigated and package results were compared with existing theoretical and/or experimental results. It has been proved that the developed elements can lead to accurate estimations of natural frequencies. The effect of fibre angles on natural frequencies has also been investigated with some case studies, and the results proved that the package can be a useful tool for the design optimization of composite layered plate and shell structures.