Analysis of piezolaminated plates by the spline finite strip method

This paper deals with the development of a family of higher order B-spline finite strip models applied to the static and free vibration analysis of la minated plates, with arbitrary shape and lay-ups, loading and boundary cond itions. The lamination scheme can be such that the embedded and/or surface bonded piezoelectric actuating and sensing layers are included. The structu re is discretised in a specified number of strips, and the geometry and dis placement components of each strip are represented by interpolating functio ns that are products of linear or cubic B-spline, and linear or quadratic L agrange functions along the y and x orthonormal directions. The accuracy an d relative performance of the proposed discrete models are compared and dis cussed among the developed and alternative models. (C) 2001 Civil-Comp Ltd. and Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.