Review of solution methodologies for structural analysis of composites

Abstract

This article reviews state-of-art solution methodologies for structural analysis of composites. The use of composites and advance composite in the design of structures has contributed to significant development in modeling and analysis of composite structures. Various modeling approaches as well as solution methodologies had been developed in the past for accurate and efficient response prediction of these structures. Our study focuses on the review of solution methodologies adopted for examined the bending, buckling and free vibrations of composites. These solution methodologies are classified as analytical, semi-analytical and numerical methods. While analytical solutions are restricted to specific set of boundaries and loading conditions, the numerical solutions find applications in complex geometries and general boundary conditions. With the development of computational technologies, the numerical solutions have gained popularity over a period of last three decades. In this article, the analytical approaches are reviewed in the framework of Navier technique, Levy Method, and symplectic superposition method while the numerical approaches are reviewed in the framework of Rayleigh–Ritz method, finite element method (FEM), meshfree methods, wavelets-based methods and differential quadrature method. The laminated composite plates/shells, CNT reinforced composite, FGM plates, circular and annular sector or sector plates have been studied in this review. An overview of mathematical formulation for the numerical methods is also presented.