A Refined Theory for Laminated Orthotropic Plates

Abstract

A refined structural theory is presented which accurately models the static and dynamic behavior of laminated orthotropic plates. The refined theory extends classical theory to include transverse shear, transverse normal, and quadratic displacement terms in the kinematic assumption. Hamilton’s principle is used to formulate the displacement equations of motion with appropriate boundary and initial conditions. The composite correction factors kij are introduced in a manner consistent with their indifference to choice of reference surface, and are determined by a procedure in which plane wave solutions for the plate are adjusted to match corresponding exact solutions. Examples of homogeneous isotropic, orthotropic, and laminated orthotropic plates are presented to show the capability of the theory to accurately model the lower branches of the frequency spectrum of these plates for wavelength-thickness ratios greater than unity.