Bending analysis of laminated composite plates using finite element method

Laminated composite plate structures find numerous applications in aerospace, military and automotive industries. The role of transverse shear is very important in composites, as the material is weak in shear due to its low shear modulus compared to extensional rigidity. Hence, an accurate understanding of their structural behaviour is required, such as deflections and stresses. In this paper, a number of finite element analyses have been carried out for various side-to-thickness ratios, aspect ratios and modulus ratios to study the effect of transverse shear deformation on deflection and stresses of laminated composite plates subjected to uniformly distributed load. The numerical results showed, on the deflections and stresses, that the effect of coupling is to decrease the deflections with the increase in the aspect ratio and modulus ratio and increase the stresses with the increase in the side-to-thickness ratio and modulus ratio.