1D analysis of laminated composite and sandwich plates using a new fifth-order plate theory

Abstract In the present study, a new fifth-order shear and normal deformation theory (FOSNDT) is developed for the analysis of laminated composite and sandwich plates under cylindrical bending. The theory considered the effects of transverse shear and normal deformations. To account for the effect of transverse shear deformation, in-plane displacement uses polynomial shape function expanded up to fifth-order in-terms of the thickness coordinate. Transverse displacement uses derivative of shape function to account for the effect of transverse normal deformations. Therefore, the present theory involves six independent unknown variables. The theory satisfies traction free boundary conditions at top and bottom surfaces of the plate and does not require the shear correction factor. The principle of virtual work is used to obtain the variationally consistent governing differential equations and associated boundary conditions. Analytical solutions for simply supported boundary conditions are obtained using Navier’s solution technique. Non-dimensional displacements and stresses obtained using the present theory are compared with existing exact elasticity solutions and lower and higher-order theories to prove the efficacy of the present theory. The comparison shows that the displacements and stresses predicted by the present theory are in good agreement with those obtained by using the exact solution.