Closed-form methodology for the bending of symmetric composite plates with cutouts and non-uniform lay-up

Abstract

The present work is focused on the development of a Lekhnitskii-based closed-form methodology for the analysis of composite plates with elliptical cutouts and non-uniform lay-up, under bending loads. Due to an innovative approach, the methodology capable of dealing with changes of the plate’s thickness, stacking sequence, and the inclusion of local reinforcements. The article considers only the bending response of the plates, under the assumption of symmetric laminates. The motivation to carry out this investigation is to simplify the labour of the calculation engineers during the first phases of the component’s design, allowing an efficient evaluation of the most promising configurations by means of conducting parametric analyses.