HIGH-ORDER ZIG-ZAG THEORIES TO STATIC LAMINATED COMPOSITE BEAM ANALYSIS BY THE RAYLEIGH-RITZ METHOD

Technological advancements across various engineering fields have grown demand for highly efficient materials for specific applications. Laminated composite materials have emerged as a promising solution, offering a combination of favorable mechanical properties by layering different materials. Theories, such as zig-zag theories, have been developed to predict the mechanical behavior of these materials under external stresses. This study investigates the outcomes provided by the Rayleigh-Ritz variational method, employing different approximation functions, particularly focusing on unified higher-order zig-zag kinematics. All proposed shape functions agree to the reference values, but the model with polynomial shape function shows more applications possibilities. Keywords: composite materials, composite laminated beams, zig-zag theory, Rayleigh-Ritz method.