Analysis of unbalanced angle-ply rectangular plates

Abstract

Unbalanced angle-ply laminated rectangular plates under transverse normal loading are analyzed. By expanding the load and the displacements in single Fourier series the governing partial differential equations are reduced to ordinary differential equations for simple support boundary conditions on two opposite edges and arbitrary boundary conditions on the other two edges. The closed form solution for the ordinary differential equations is obtained for 45° angle-ply laminates. Several numerical examples are solved and their results are presented in graphs. The degree of coupling between stretching and bending depends on the transverse loading, the edge boundary conditions and the aspect ratio of the plate, as well as on the degree of anisotropy of the layers, the angle of orientation and the number of plies in the composite. The type of in-plane boundary condition (movable or immovable) has a significant effect on bending for simply supported plates but not for clamped plates. The Fourier series method discussed in this paper can be used with the method of superposition to solve problems having other edge conditions, as well as transverse loading conditions.