An accurate four-node shear flexible composite plate element

✍ Scribed by Gajbir Singh; P. Raveendranath; G. Vekateswara Rao

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 129 KB
• Volume: 47
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0029-5981
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0207(20000330)47:9<1605::aid-nme848>3.0.co;2-f

✦ Synopsis

An e$cient and accurate four node shear #exible composite laminated plate element with six degrees of freedom per node, viz. three displacement (u, v, w) along the x-, y-and z-axis, two rotations ( V and W ) about y-and x-axis and twist ( VW) is proposed in this paper. A coupled displacement "eld is derived using moment}shear equilibrium and in-plane equilibrium of composite strips along the x-and y-axis. The displacement "eld so derived not only depends on the element co-ordinates but is a function of extensional, bending}extensional coupling, bending and transverse shear sti!nesses as well. The element assumes bi-cubic polynomial distribution with sixteen generalized undetermined coe$cients for the transverse displacement. The element sti!ness matrix and load vector are computed numerically by employing 3;3 Gauss}Legendre product rules. The element is found to be devoid of shear locking and does not exhibit any spurious modes. A series of numerical examples are solved to demonstrate the e$cacy of the proposed element. Further, the element is found to yield consistently accurate results even with coarse mesh sizes over a wide range of thick plate regimes.