FURTHER RESULTS CONCERNING THE REFINED THEORY OF ANISOTROPIC LAMINATED COMPOSITE PLATES

A simple refined discrete-layer theory of anisotropic laminated compos ite plates is substantiated. The theory is based on the assumption of a piecewise linear variation of the in-plane displacement components a nd of the constancy of the transverse displacement throughout the thic kness of the laminate. This plate model incorporates transverse shear deformation, dynamic and thermal effects as well as the geometrical no n-linearities and fulfills the continuity conditions for the displacem ent components and transverse shear stresses at the interfaces between laminae. As it is shown in the paper, the refinement implying the ful fillment of continuity conditions is not accompanied by an increase of the number of independent unknown functions, as implied in the standa rd first order transverse shear deformation theory. It is also shown t hat the within the framework of the linearized static counterpart of t he theory, several theorems analogous to the ones in the 3-D elasticit y theory could be established. These concern the energetic theorems, B etti's reciprocity theorem, the uniqueness theorem for the solutions o f boundary-value problems of elastic composite plates, etc. Finally, c omparative remarks on the present and standard first order transverse shear deformation theories are made and pertinent conclusions about it s usefulness and further developments are outlined.