A refined asymptotic theory and computational model for multilayered composite plates (Q1370767)

The asymptotic theory of multilayered composite plates is refined to embrace the shear deformation theory. The derivation is based on application of asymptotic expansion to the Hellinger-Reissner variational functional in which the displacements and transverse stresses are taken to be the functions subject to variation. By introducing rotations as auxiliary variables in the asymptotic formulation, the shear deformation theory of laminated plates arises naturally as the first-order approximation to the three-dimensional theory. The computational model is constructed on the basis of the asymptotic expressions of the Hellinger-Reissner functional in conjunction with the finite element method, in which the displacements and transverse stresses may be interpolated independently.