Lévy’s Solution for Laminated Composite Plates using Higher-Order Shear and Normal Deformation Theory

Equivalent single layer (ESL) theories have been extensively used in the analysis of plates.One of the common assumptions that are considered in all the ESL theories is that the thickness is small as compared to the in-plane dimensions.This assumption is the basis for converting a 3D plate problem into a 2D plate problem by assuming a displacement-model along the thickness.Higher-order shear deformation theories (hosts) consider more realistic non-linear variation of displacements along the thickness as compared to the other ESL theories i.e., the classical plate theory (CPT) and first-order shear deformation theories (FOSTS), which consider the linear variation.Due to this reason the solutions obtained using hosts are closer to the elasticity solutions.In this paper, static solution of the laminated composite plates is provided using 12 degrees of freedom higher-order shear and normal deformation theory (HOSNT).Results are obtained using the state-space approach for Lvy-type plates i.e., two opposite plate edges having simply-supported boundary condition and other two plate edges having combination of simply-supported, clamped and free boundary conditions.Results obtained compare well with the corresponding results available in the literature.