A new postprocessing method for laminated composites of general laminationconfigurations

A new postprocessing method is developed for the deformation and stress rec overy of laminated plates of general layup configurations. After obtaining first-order shear deformation plate solutions, deformations and stresses ar e recovered by utilizing displacement field of higher-order plate theory. T he previous developed postprocess method for symmetric cross-ply layup is e xtended for various layup configurations. For the general layup configurati ons, not only shear angles but also reference in-plane displacement matchin gs are needed between higher-order theory and first-order shear deformation theory. Additionally, in-plane equilibrium equations of higher-order shear deformation theory are utilized to satisfy the transverse shear free condi tions at the top and bottom surface of the laminates. The basic framework o f the postprocess method is preserved. To treat general lamination configur ations, the reference plane of the in-plane displacement of an efficient hi gher-order theory is defined at the bottom surface. Numerous examples demon strate the accuracy and simplicity of the present method for various layup configurations including antisymmetric cross-ply and angle-ply layups. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.