A HIGHER-ORDER THEORY FOR THE ANALYSIS OF LAMINATED PLATES AND SHELLSWITH SHEAR AND NORMAL DEFORMATION

An improved higher-order theory is developed for the stress analysis o f laminated tranversely isotropic plates and shells subject to transve rse shear deformation and normal compression. The theory is capable of analyzing the stress-strain behavior of layered plates and shells wit h an arbitrary number and sequence of layers which may differ signific antly in their physical and mechanical properties. New variables which have a clear physical meaning are introduced. Various loading and bou ndary conditions are considered which enable transverse shear and norm al reduction to be fully taken into account, and the complete set of b oundary conditions is derived. The closed-form solutions of some multi layered plates and shells are derived. Numerical results arc compared with those given in the literature, in order to validate the analysis presented. The features of this theory and the implications of the num erical results are discussed.