An alternative alpha finite element method with discrete shear gap technique for analysis of laminated composite plates

Abstract

This paper presents an alternative alpha finite element method using triangular meshes (A αFEM) for static, free vibration and buckling analyses of laminated composite plates. In the A αFEM, an assumed strain field is carefully constructed by combining compatible strains and additional strains with an adjustable parameter α which can produce an effectively softer stiffness formulation compared to the linear triangular element. The stiffness matrices are obtained based on the strain smoothing technique over the smoothing domains and the constant strains on triangular sub-domains associated with the nodes of the elements. The discrete shear gap (DSG) method is incorporated into the A αFEM to eliminate transverse shear locking and an improved triangular element termed as A αDSG3 is proposed. Several numerical examples are then given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the A αDSG3.