Triangular finite element for analysis of thick laminated plates

Abstract

AbstractThe development of a general triangular C0 element, based on an assumed quadratic displacement potential energy approach, is presented for the analysis of arbitrarily laminated thick plates. The element formulation assumes transverse inextensibility and layerwise constant shear‐angle. Convergence of transverse displacement, moments and stresses, the effects of two different Gauss quadrature schemes and comparison of the present solutions with the available analytical/finite‐element results also form a part of the investigation. Furthermore, numerical results indicate close agreement between the LCST (layerwise constant shear‐angle theory) and the three‐dimensional elasticity theory with the length (or width) to thickness ratio as low as 4. Detailed comparison of the LCST‐based finite‐element solutions with those based on the CST (constant shear‐angle theory) and the CLT (classical lamination theory) clearly demonstrates the superiority of the former over the latter two, especially in the prediction of the distribution of the in‐plane displacements and stresses through the laminate thickness. This paper also introduces a new non‐dimensionalized parameter, Δθ*, which is shown to be a very useful measure for classification of the laminated plates and the suitability of different plate theories over various ranges of length‐to‐thickness ratio.