Abstract
A secant function based shear deformable finite element model is developed for the flexural behavior of laminated composite and sandwich plates with various conditions. The structural kinematics of the plate is expressed by means of secant function based shear deformation theory newly developed by the authors. The theory possesses non-linear shear deformation and also satisfies the zero transverse shear conditions on top and bottom surfaces of the plate. The field variables are elegantly utilized in order to ensure C0 continuity requirement. Penalty parameter is implemented to secure the constraints arising due to independent field variables. A biquadratic quadrilateral element with eight nodes and 56 degrees of freedom is employed to discretize the domain. Extensive numerical tests for the flexural behavior of laminated composite and sandwich plates are conducted to affirm the validity of the present finite element model in conjunction with the improved structural kinematics. Influences of boundary conditions, loading conditions, lamination sequences, aspect ratio, span-thickness ratio, etc on the flexural behavior are investigated specifically and compared with the existing results in order to indicate the performance of the present mathematical treatment.
Highlights
The requirement of laminated composite and sandwich structures for the structural/components design in various disciplines such as aerospace, naval, automotive, civil, etc. has increased significantly over the past three decades due to their improved mechanical properties such as specific strength, specific stiffness; enhanced environmental properties such as their response to moisture1276 B
The methodology is validated for the flexural behavior of laminated-composite and sandwich plates by performing various numerical tests considering the influences of boundary conditions, loading conditions, span-thickness ratio, aspect ratio, and material orthotropic index in order to show the performance of secant function based shear deformable finite element
4 CONCLUSIONS In the present work, a secant function based shear deformable finite element model is developed for the accurate flexural assessment of laminated composite and sandwich plates
Summary
The requirement of laminated composite and sandwich structures for the structural/components design in various disciplines such as aerospace, naval, automotive, civil, etc. has increased significantly over the past three decades due to their improved mechanical properties such as specific strength, specific stiffness; enhanced environmental properties such as their response to moisture. The methodology is validated for the flexural behavior of laminated-composite and sandwich plates by performing various numerical tests considering the influences of boundary conditions, loading conditions, span-thickness ratio, aspect ratio, and material orthotropic index in order to show the performance of secant function based shear deformable finite element. It is observed, by comparing the present results with those of published results, that the proposed approach is efficient for the prediction of flexural behavior of laminated-composite and sandwich plates at the similar or less computational efforts as compared to other HSDTs. the generalized formulation enables the implementation of all existing shear strain shape function based shear deformation theories
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