A 2-DIMENSIONAL THEORY FOR THE ANALYSIS OF LAMINATED PLATES

A new displacement-based two-dimensional theory for the analysis of mu ltilayered plates is presented. The theory is based on the only kinema tic constraint of transverse inextensibility, whereas no restrictions are imposed on the representation of the in-plane displacement compone nts. A governing system of integral-differential equations is obtained which can be given a closed-form solution for a number of problems wh ere no boundary layer are present. It is also shown that most of the 2 -D plate models can be directly derived from the presented theory. The possibility of developing asymptotic solutions in the boundary layers is discussed with reference to the problem of a plate in cylindrical bending. Finally some numerical solutions are compared with those give n by the plate model by Lo et al. (1977) and with F.E.M. solutions.