Stress Analysis of Thick Laminated Composite and Sandwich Plates*

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Abstract
Because of the relatively soft interlaminar shear modulus in high per formance composites, laminated plate theory based on the Kirchhoff hypothesis becomes inaccurate for determining gross plate response and internal stresses of thick composites and sandwich type laminates. In this paper a procedure is developed for accurately calculating the mechanical behavior of a thick laminated composite or sandwich plate of arbitrary stacking sequence. The procedure is an extension of an existing laminated plate theory which includes the effect of transverse shear deformation, and is easily computerized for design application with a minimum of running time. Accuracy of the approach is ascertained by comparing solutions from the modified plate theory to exact elasticity theory.