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Bending Analysis of Classical

Symmetric Laminated
Composite Plates by the
Strip Element Method
Y. Y. Wang, K. Y. Lam, G. R. Liu
a
Department of Mechanical and Production
Engineering, National University of Singapore,
Singapore
Published online: 30 Nov 2010.
To cite this article: Y. Y. Wang, K. Y. Lam, G. R. Liu (2000) Bending Analysis of

Classical Symmetric Laminated Composite Plates by the Strip Element Method,
Mechanics of Composite Materials and Structures, 7:3, 225-247
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Bending Analysis of Classical Symmetric Laminated

Composite Plates by the Strip Element Method
Y. Y. WANG
K. Y. LAM
G. R. LIU
Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering,
National University of Singapore, Singapore
ABSTRACT
A new formulation of strip element method based on classical laminated plate
theory is derived for the bending analysis of laminated composite plates. In this method,
an in nite-length plate is rst considered and is discretized into a set of strip elements in
the width direction. The principle of minimum potential energy is applied to obtain the
ordinary differential equations, which are functions of only the coordinate in the length
direction. These differential equations can then be solved analytically. The boundary
conditions on the length coordinate direction are nally used to determine the de ection
distribution in the plate. The strip element solutions are presented for a rectangular lami-
nated composite plate with various boundary conditions and load cases. The solutions are
compared with those of the Rayleigh-Ritz method, and very good agreement is obtained.
The analysis of laminated composite plates have been studied quite extensively in recent
years because of the dramatic increase in the use of such structures in various industries.
Numbers of theories for the analysis of laminated composite plates have been developed,
such as the classical laminated plate theory (CLPT) [1], which is an extension of the
classical plate theory (CPT) [2]; rst-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) [3 – 5]; and
third-order laminate theory [6]. It is known that analytical solutions for the isotropic plate
problems can only be obtained for those problems that involve simple plate geometries
and boundary conditions. The problems are further complicated for the orthotropic plates.
For anisotropic laminated plates, analytical solutions are virtually nonexistent. Also, the
analytical solutions cannot be obtained when the problems involve complex geometries and
boundary conditions. Therefore, one must resort to numerical methods that are capable of
solving such problems.
The nite-element method (FEM) is a powerful computational technique for the solu-
tions of differential and integral equations, and is the most widely used numerical method
for plate analysis. Various types of thin-plate bending elements have been introduced by
Zienkiewicz [7] and Reddy [8]. Although the FEM is an extremely versatile and power-
ful technique, it suffers certain disadvantages; especially, it needs large data storage and
Received 29 March 1999; accepted 19 October 1999.

The present address of Y. Y. Wang is Institute of High Performance Computing, 89C Science
Park Drive, #02-11/12 The Rutherford, Singapore 118262.
Address correspondence to Wang Yu Yong, Institute of High Performance Computing, 89C
Science Park Drive, #02-11/12 The Rutherford, Singapore 118262. E-mail: Wangyy@ihpc.nus.edu.sg
225
226 Y. Y. Wang et al.
computing memory. Thus there have been recent efforts to formulate alternative methods.
One such effort was the development of the nite strip method (FSM) [9]. The FSM encoun-
ters dif culty when it is used for in nite plates and sometimes in the analysis of composite
plates. From the early 1980s, the boundary element method (BEM) [10] also emerged as an
ef cient numerical method for plate bending analysis. The BEM has been used successfully
for a great variety of problems. Stern [11] and many other authors have suggested different
ways of formulating the boundary integrals for plate bending. The BEM, however, is very
dif cult to apply for anisotropic and inhomogeneous solids, because no simple Green’s
function is available.
Recently, Liu and Achenbach [12] have presented a new numerical method, the strip
element method (SEM), for the stress analysis of anisotropic linearly elastic solid. This
method keeps many advantages of the FEM and BEM, such as, it can be used for anisotropic
solids, and it requires much smaller storage in the computation. Comparing with FSM, the
SEM can be easy applied to anisotropic materials and in nite-plate problems. Unlike
the Rayleigh-Ritz method, in which the approximation functions should be selected for
the whole domain and it is quite dif cult for complex problems, the problem domain is
discretized to strip elements in SEM and dimension-reduced differential equations can
be obtained and solved analytically. The SEM has been used successfully in plane-strain
problems [12 – 16]. The SEM for the bending analysis of orthotropic plate has also been
developed by Wang et al. [17].
In this article, the formulations of the SEM for the bending analysis of symmetric
laminated composite plates are derived based on CLPT. The plate is divided in the width
direction into strip elements. By applying the principle of minimum potential energy to
a strip element, a set of dimension-reduced approximate differential equations is derived.
However, due to the anisotropy of the material, two of the coef cient matrices in the
differential equation are not symmetric, which leads to dif culties in solving the differential
equations. A technique is proposed to solve the differential equations. In this technique, a
complex eigenvalue problem is rst solved, and then these equations are solved analytically
using boundary conditions. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the application
and accuracy of the SEM.
PLATE BENDING ANALYSIS

Consider a rectangular laminated composite plate of total thickness H composed of
K layers of orthotropic plies. As shown in Figure 1, the Cartesian coordinate system is
set so that the x – y plane of the problem is located in the undeformed midplane of the
plate. The z axis is taken positive upward from the midplane. The kth layer is located
between the points z = z k ¡ 1 and z = z k in the thickness direction, and its principal ma-
terial axis orients at an angle a k to the x axis for the laminate coordinate as shown in
Figure 2.
From the classical laminated-plate theory, if the displacement in the z direction at
any point is w, then the displacement in the x and y directions, u and v, are given as
follows:
¶ w
u = ¡ z
¶ x
(1)
¶ w
v = ¡ z
¶ y
The linear strains associated with the displacements eld in Eq. (1) are given by the
linear strain-displacement relations, which can be expressed as the second partial derivatives
Bending Analysis of Composite Plates by SEM 227
Figure 1. The coordination system of the laminated composite plate.
Figure 2. Geometry and coordination system of the kth layer of a rectangular plate in the
x-y plane with ber orientation of a k .
of the displacement functions. Then the strain vector can be written as
ì e x ü
í e y ý = ¡ zLw (2)
î c xy þ
where
{ }
T
2 2
¶ ¶ ¶ 2
L= 2 (3)
¶ x2 ¶ y2 ¶ x¶ y
is the differential operator matrix, in which a superscript T denotes the transposed

matrix.
The stresses of the kth layer in the laminate coordinate are
é= Q̄Q̄ ù
k k
Q̄ 12 Q̄ 13
ì r ü 11
ì e ü ì e ü
ú
x x x
í
î k
r y
xy
ý
þ êë Q̄ 12
13
Q̄ 22
Q̄ 23
Q̄
Q̄ û
23
33
í
î c
e y
xy
ý
þ
= Q̄k í e
î c
y
xy
ý
þ
(4)
where Q̄k is the transformed stiffness matrix, given by
Q̄k = TQk T T (5)
in which T is the transform matrix for the kth layer:
é l2 m2 lm
ù
T=
êë ¡ m
2lm
2
l
2lm
2
¡ lm
l ¡ m2
2
úû (6)
l = cos a k
(7)
m = sin a k
In Eq. (5), Qk is the stiffness matrix of the kth layer in the principal material coordinate,
and its components for ber-reinforced composites are given by
E1 m 12 E 2 m 21 E 1
Q 11 = Q 12 = =
1¡ m 12 m 21 1¡ m 12 m 21 1¡ m 12 m 21
(8)
E2
Q 22 = Q 66 = G 12 Q 16 = Q 26 = 0
1¡ m 12 m 21
where E 1 and E 2 are the Young’s moduli parallel and perpendicular to the bers, respec-
tively, G 12 is the shear modulus, and m 12 and m 21 are the Poisson’s ratios.
The bending moment vector can be written as
ì Mx ü
í M y ý = ¡ DLw (9)
î Mx y þ
where the matrix D is the coef cient matrix of the bending stiffness matrix and is given as
é D 11 D12 D16
ù
D= D
êë D 12
16
D22
D26
D26
D û
ú 66
(10)
N
1
Di j =
3
^ ( Q̄ i j )k ( z 3k ¡ z 3k¡ 1 ) (11)
k= 1
The lateral mid-surface de ection of the plate satis es the following governing differ-
ential equation
¶ 4w ¶ 4w ¶ 4w ¶ 4w ¶ 4w
D11 + 4D 16 + 2(D 12 + 2D 66 ) + 4D 26 + D 22 ¡ q = 0
¶ x4 ¶ x3 ¶ y ¶ x 2 ¶ y2 ¶ x ¶ y3 ¶ y4
(12)
or, in matrix form,

W = LT DLw ¡ q = 0 (13)
THE STRIP ELEMENT METHOD

The basic idea of the strip element method can be summarized as follows:
1. The domain is discretized in one direction into some strip elements.
2. Applying a variational principle to a strip element to obtain the approximate govern-
ing differential equation for the eld dependency, a system of approximate governing
differential equations for the total plate can be obtained by assembling all the strip
elements as is done in the FEM.
3. Solving the set of equations analytically, the displacement eld can be obtained.
To use the SEM in plate bending analysis, an in nite-length plate is rst consid-
ered. As shown in Figure 3, the in nite-length plate occupies the region ¡ 1 · x · 1
Figure 3. The in nite plate is divided into strip elements in the y direction, while the region
bounded by S1 , S2 , S3 and S4 is the problem domain.
and 0 · y · b. The problem domain of the plate is stated as ¡ a / 2 · x · a / 2, 0 · y · b,

and ¡ H / 2 · z · H / 2, which is bounded by boundaries of S1 , S2 , S3 , and S4 . The plate
is divided in the y direction into N strip elements. The displacement eld in an element is
assumed to be of the form
W = N(y)Ve (x ) (14)
where matrix N(y) and vector V(x ) are given by
N(y) = [n 1 (y) n 2 (y) n 3 (y) n 4 (y) n 5 (y) n 6 (y)] (15)
Ve (x ) = [w 1 (x ) q 1 (x ) w 2 (x ) q 2 (x ) w 3 (x ) q 3 (x )]T
(16)
= [v 1 (x ) v 2 (x ) v 3 (x ) v 4 (x ) v 5 (x ) v 6 (x )]T
and w i (i = 1, 2, 3) are the lateral de ections on the node lines; q i (i = 1, 2, 3) are the rotation
angles on the node lines given by
¶ w êê
q = (17)
¶ y êê y = yi
i
The components in matrix N(y) are obtained using Hermite interpolation function and are
given by
y2 y3 y4 y5
n 1 (y) = 1 ¡ 23 + 66 ¡ 68 + 24
be2 be3 be4 be5
n 2 (y) = y 1 ¡ ( 6
y
be
y2
+ 13 2 ¡
be
12
y3
be3
+ 4
y4
be4 )
y2 y3 y4
n 3 (y) = 16 ¡ 32 + 16
be2 b3e be4
(18)
y y2
n 4 (y) = y ¡ 8 + 32 2 ¡
be be ( y3 y4
40 3 + 16 4
be be )
y2 y3 y4 y5
n 5 (y) = 7 ¡ 34 + 52 ¡ 24 5
b2e be3 be4 beb
n 6 (y) = y ¡
( y
be
y2 y3 y4
+5 2 ¡ 8 3 +4 4
be be be )
where be is the width of the strip element. Applying the principle of minimum potential
energy to the strip element, we obtain the following equation:
* W d w d y + R d V (x ) = T̄ d V (x )
be
e e e
y (19)
0
where R y is the force vector and T̄e is the external traction vector acting on the boundary
lines of the element.
Ry =
[(
¡
¶ M yx
¶ x
+ Qy ) ê
ê
ê
ê y=0
My j y =0 0 0 ( ¶ M yx
¶ x
+ Qy ) ê
ê
ê
ê y = be
¡ Myj y = be
(20)
]
T̄ = [¡ q̄j
e
y= 0 M̄ y j y= 0 0 0 q̄j y = be ¡ M̄ y j y = be ] (21)
Using the relationship between the displacement and the bending moment given in
Eq. (9), it is found that
Qy =
¶ Mx y ¶ My
¶ x
+
¶ y
= ¡ ( D16
¶ 3w
¶ x3
+ (D 12 + 2D 66 )
¶ 3w
¶ x2 ¶ y
+ 3D 26
¶ 3w
¶ x ¶ y2
+ D 22
¶ 3w
¶ y3 )
(22)
Submitting Eqs. (9), (20), (21), and (22) into Eq. (19), we can obtain the system of
approximate ordinary differential equation for an element.
d 4 Ve d 3 Ve d 2 Ve dVe
Be1 4
+ Be2 3
+ Be3 2
+ Be4 + Be5 Ve ¡ Pe = T̄e (23)
dx dx dx dx
The coef cient matrices Bie (i = 1 » 5) and vector Pe of the differential equation of
an element are given in the Appendix, from which it is known that Be1 , Be3 , and Be5 are
symmetric and Be2 and Be4 are antisymmetric matrices. Assembling all the strip elements of
the domain, T̄e will vanish except on the boundary line of y = 0 and y = b, and a system of
approximate ordinary differential equations for the whole domain can be obtained.
d 4V d 3V d 2V dV
B1 4
+ B2 3
+ B 3 2
+ B4 + B5 V = P (24)
dx dx dx dx
The matrices Bi (i = 1 – 5), P can be obtained by assembling the corresponding matrices

and vectors of adjacent elements just as is done in the FEM. If the plate is divided to N
strip elements, then Bi (i = 1 – 5) will be M £ M (M = 4N + 2) matrices.
It is noted that Eq. (12) can be solved by the Navier or Levy method for simple
boundary conditions, and by the SEM given by Wang et al. [17] for all kinds of boundary
conditions provided D16 and D26 are equal to zero. However, due to the existence of D16
and D26 , the approximate differential equations become much more complex, and all the
above-mentioned methods fail. The complexity is also contributed to by the fact that the
coef cient matrices B2 and B4 are antisymmetric matrices. A new formulation based on
the SEM is proposed in the next sections.
SOLUTION OF DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

Equation (24) represents a set of fourth-orde r differential equations. Its general so-
lution has two parts, namely, the complementary solution which satis es the associated
homogeneous equation of Eq. (24), and the particular solution which satis es Eq. (24).
Complementary solution
The complementary solution can be obtained by solving the associated homogeneous
equation of Eq. (24) (P = 0). Assuming
V = d0 exp(ikx) (25)
and substituting it into the homogeneous equation (24), we have the following equation:
(k 4 B1 ¡ i k 3 B2 ¡ k 2 B3 + ikB4 + B5 ) d0 = 0 (26)
This equation can be changed to a standard eigenvalue equation with respect to k:
é 0 I 0
0ù
0
ìï
ïï
d0
kd0 ïï
üï ék 0I 0 0
0ù
0
ìï
ïï
d0
üï
ïï
êêê
0
0
0
0
I
0 Iú
úú í k 2 d0 ý
=
êêê 0
I
0
0
I 0ú
úú í
kd0
k 2 d0 ý
(27)
ë¡ B5 ¡ iB4 B3 iB2 û ïï
î k 3 d0 þ
ïï
ë0 0 0 B1 û ïï
î k 3 d0 þ
ïï
Solving Eq. (27) using a general eigenvalue-solving subroutine, 4M eigenvalues k j

( j = 1, 2, . . . , 4M ) and eigenvectors can be obtained. Considering only the rst quarter
portion of eigenvectors which relate to d0 , the portion for the j th eigenvector can be written
as
T
j = {} 1j } 2j ¢ ¢ ¢ } Mj} (28)
The displacement associated to the complementary solution can be obtained by superposi-

tion of these eigenvectors.
4M
Vc = ^ Cj j exp(ik j x ) = G(x )C (29)
j=1
where the subscript c indicates the complementary solution and
é uu exp(i k1 x ) u
11 21 exp(i k2 x ) ¢ ¢ ¢ u L1 exp(i k L x )
ù
G(x ) = êêê 12 exp(i k1 x ) u 22 exp(i k2 x ) ¢ ¢ ¢ u L2 exp(i k L x )
úúú (30)
úû
.. .. .. ..
êë .
u 1M exp(i k1 x ) u
.
2M exp(i k2 x ) ¢ ¢ ¢
.
u LM
.
exp(i k L x )
where L = 4M . In Eq. (29), C is the vector of unknown constants which will be determined
by using the boundary conditions on S2 and S4 after the particular solution is obtained.
Particular solution
The Fourier transformation with respect to coordinate x is introduced as
*
1
ikx
Ṽ p (k) = V p (x )e ¡ dx (31)
¡ 1
where subscript p indicates the particular solution. Application of the Fourier transform to
Eq. (24) leads to the following equation in the transform domain:
P̃ = [k 4 B1 ¡ i k 3 B2 ¡ k 2 B3 + ikB4 + B5 ]Ṽ p (32)
This equation can be rewritten as
p = [A ¡ kB]d (33)
where
T T
pT = {0 0 0 ¡ P̃} dT = {ṼTp k Ṽ Tp k 2 ṼTp k 3 Ṽ Tp } (34)
é 0 I 0 0
ù é I 0 0 0
ù
A=
êêë
0 0 I 0
úú B=
êêë 00
0 I 0 0
úú (35)
û û
0 0 0 I 0 I 0
¡ B5 ¡ i B4 B3 i B2 0 0 B1
The eigenvalues km , left eigenvectors u mL , and right eigenvectors u mR corresponding to

the homogeneous equation of Eq. (33) can be solved as done in the above, which satis es
the following equations:
u L
m [A ¡ km2 B] = 0 [A ¡ km2 B]u R
m =0 (36)
u L
n Au
R
m = km2 Bn d nm u L
n Bu
R
m = Bn d nm (37)
where d nm = 1 for m = n and d nm = 0 for m 6 = n. Applying the modal analysis technique

[18] we nd
4M
u mL pu mR
d= ^ (km ¡ k)Bm
(38)
m=1
R L
It should be noted that the right eigenvectors u m and left eigenvectors u m can be written
in the form of subvectors:
R
ìï u m1 üï
ïï u R
m2
ïï
u R
m = í R ý u L
m = {u L
m1 u L
m2 u L
m3 u L
m4 } (39)
ïï u m3 ïï
ïî u R
m4
ïþ
R
where u mi (i = 1, 2, 3, 4) and u mL j ( j = 1, 2, 3, 4) have the same dimension. Wang et al.
[17] have pointed out that the left eigenvectors u mL can be obtained easily from the right
eigenvectors u mR in the case of an orthotropic plate. It is not an easy task for an anisotropic
plate, however, since B2 and B4 are not symmetric. The left eigenvectors u mL and the right
eigenvectors u mR must be solved separately.
From Eqs. (34), (38), and (39) we obtain that
4M L R
P̃u m1
^
u m4
Ṽ p = ¡ (40)
m= 1
(k m ¡ k)Bm
Once the external load is specialized, the vector of the load Fouier transformation P̃ can
be given. Applying inverse Fourier transformation to the above equation, the particular
solution of Eq. (24) can be obtained.
* *
1 1 4M L R
1 1 P̃u m1
^
u m4
V p (x ) = Ṽ p (k)eikx dk = e ikx dk (41)
2p ¡ 1 2p ¡ 1 m =1
(k ¡ k m )Bm
The general solution of Eq. (24) is the sum of the complementary solution given by
Eq. (29) and the particular solution given by Eq. (41).
V = Vc + Vp = G(x )C + Vp (42)
Equation (42) is a fundamental solution for the in nite-plate domain. To obtain the special
solution for the problem domain of nite length, the constant vector C must be determined
by using certain boundary conditions on boundaries S2 and S4 .
DETERMINATION OF CONSTANTS VECTOR C USING BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

There are 2N + 1 node lines, and two boundary conditions on each node line can be
obtained from the classical plate theory. Thus, there are only 2M boundary conditions on S2
and S4 , which are insuf cient to determine the 4M constants. Another additional 2M bound-
ary conditions are therefore needed. Examining Eq. (16), it is noted that there are two dis-
placement parameters on each node line, lateral de ection, and rotation angle. It is expected
that the other 2M boundary conditions can be obtained by considering the rotation angle.
From Eqs. (14), (15), and (16), it is known that the de ection for an element can be
written as
w = n 1 (y)w 1 + n 2 (y)q 1 + n 3 (y)w 2 + n 4 (y)q 2 + n 5 (y)w 3 + n 6 (y)q 3 (43)
and so its derivatives with respect to x are
¶ w dw 1 dq dw dq dw dq
= n 1 (y) + n 2 (y) 1 + n 3 (y) 2 + n 4 (y) 2 + n 5 (y) 3 + n 6 (y) 3
¶ x dx dx dx dx dx dx
(44)
¶ 2w d 2w 1 d 2q 1 d 2w2 d2q 2 d2w 3
2
= n 1 (y) + n 2 (y) + n 3 (y) + n 4 (y) + n 5 (y)
¶ x d 2x d2x d2x d 2x d2 x
d 2q 3
+ n 6 (y) (45)
d2x
Examining these equations, the 2M additional boundary conditions for some typical bound-
aries can be derived as follows.
Boundary conditions of clamped supported edges

For the clamped supported edges, the boundary conditions from the classical plate
theory are
¶ w
w = 0 =0 (46)
¶ x
Considering this condition and Eqs. (43) and (44), it is found that since the n i (y) (i = 1 – 6)
are independent of each other, w i and q i must be zero to satisfy w = 0 at arbitrary y. Also
dw i / d x and dq i / d x should be zero to satisfy ¶ w / ¶ x = 0 at arbitrary y. Hence the boundary
conditions for the clamped supported edges can be given as
dV
V= 0 =0 (47)
dx
From Eq. (17), it is known that there are additional boundary conditions to be intro-
duced.
¶ q
q = 0 =0 (48)
¶ x
Boundary conditions of simply supported edges

In the classical plate theory, the boundary conditions for the clamped supported edges
are given as
¶ 2w
w = 0 =0 (49)
¶ x2
Using the same principle described in the above subsection, the simple supported boundary
conditions are obtained by combining Eqs. (43), (45), and (49) can be expressed as
d 2V
V= 0 =0 (50)
dx2
in which the following additional boundary conditions are introduced:
¶ 2q
q = 0 =0 (51)
¶ x2
Boundary conditions for free boundaries

The boundary conditions for the free edges are given in the force boundary conditions,
¶ Mx y
Mx = 0 + Qx = 0 (52)
¶ y
In order to obtain the property boundary conditions for SEM, the shape functions are
written in term of y as
5
n i (y) = ^ ni j y j (53)
j =0
and rewriting the bending moment and the shear force in term of shape functions and node
displacements as
¶ 2w ¶ 2w ¶ 2w
¡ M x = D11 + D12 2 + 2D16
¶ x 2 ¶ y ¶ x¶ y
n 6 6
d 2vi d 2 ni
^ ^ ^
dn i dv i
= D11 ni + D12 v i + 2D16 (54)
dx2 d y2 dy dx
[ ]
i=1 i =1 i=1
5 6
d 2 vi
^ ^
dv
= yj D11 n i j + D12 ( j + 2)( j + 1)n i j + 2 v i + 2D16 ( j + 1)n i j + 1 i
j=0 i=1
dx2 dx
¡ (
¶ Mx y
¶ y
+ Qx )
¶ 3w ¶ 3w ¶ 3w ¶ 3w
= D 11 + 4D 16 + (D 12 + 4D 66 ) + 2D 26
¶ x3 ¶ x2 ¶ y ¶ x ¶ y2 ¶ y3
6 6
d 3 vi dn i d 2 v i
= D 11 ^ ni
dx3
+ 4D16 ^ dy dx2
+ (D12 + 4D66 )
i =1 i=1
6 6
d 2 n i dv i d 3 ni
£ ^ d y2 d x
+ 2D26 ^ d y3
vi (55)
i =1 i=1
= ^
j=0
5
yi ^
i=1
6
[D 11 n i j
d 3vi
dx3
+ 4D 16 ( j + 1)n i j + 1
d 2 vi
dx2
+ (D12 + 4D66 )( j + 2)( j + 1)n i j + 2

dv i
dx
+ 2D26 ( j + 3)( j + 2)( j + 1)n i j + 3 v i
]
It should be noted that there are no coef cients n i 6 , n i 7 , and n i 8 from Eq. (53), thus, the
coef cients n i 6 , n i 7 , and n i 8 in the above equations are used for the convenience of writing
and should be set to zero. In order to satisfy the free boundary conditions of Eq. (52) at
arbitrary y, the following conditions must be satis ed:
^
i=1
6
[ D11 n i j
d 2 vi
dx 2
dv
+ D12 ( j + 2)( j + 1)n i j + 2 v i + 2D16 ( j + 1)n i j + 1 i
dx ] =0
for j = 0, 1, . . . , 5 (56)
^
i=1
6
[ D11 n i j
d 3 vi
dx 3
d 2v dv
+ 4D16 ( j + 1)n i j + 1 2i + (D12 + 4D66 )( j + 2)( j + 1)n i j + 2 i
dx dx
+ 2D26 ( j + 3)( j + 2)( j + 1)n i j + 3 v i

] =0 for j = 0, 1, . . . , 5 (57)
It can be shown that the above boundary conditions are equivalent to the following boundary
conditions:
Mx = 0
¶ Mx y
¶ y
+ Qx = 0
¶ Mx
¶ y
=0
¶
¶ y (
¶ Mx y
¶ y
+ Qx ) =0 (58)
where the vector expresses the corresponding values on the node lines. The last two equations
in Eq. (58) are additional conditions required by the SEM.
NUMERICAL EXAMPLES
A strip element method and a Rayleigh-Ritz method program for plate bending analysis
have been developed in FORTRAN 77. The bending analysis of a square plate with various
boundary conditions has been carried out by using these programs. A line load and a uniform
distribution load are considered. The results calculated using the SEM are compared with
the Rayleigh-Ritz solutions to demonstrate the accuracy of the SEM, where enough terms of
approximation functions has been selected in the Rayleigh-Ritz method so that the solutions
are quite close to exact solutions.
Considering a plate subjected a line load at x = x 0 along the y axis, we may write the
force vector as
P = P̄d (x ¡ x0 ) (59)
where d is the Dirac delta function and P̄ is a constant vector representing the distribution
of the external force on the node line. In this case, the Fouier transformation is given as
P̄˜ = P̄e ¡ i k x0
(60)
Hence, from Cauchy’s theorem, the integration in Eq. (41) can be carried out.
ì ^ L+ R+
2M
u m4 P̄u m1 i km+ (x ¡ x 0 )
ïïï i
Bm+
e x ¸ x0
m=1
í
Vp = (61)
2M L¡ R¡
ïï ^ ¡ i
u m4 P̄u m1
e i k m¡ (x ¡ x0 )
x < x0
î ï m=1
¡
Bm
where “ + ” denotes variables evaluated for the cases that the eigenvalues are positive real
numbers or the imaginary parts of the eigenvalues are positive, while “¡ ” denotes variables
evaluated for the other cases of the eigenvalues.
When the external load is distributed uniformly along the x axis, the solution is obtained
in the form of superposition integral over the solution of the line load.
2M L+ R+ + 2M
ei km (x + a / 2) ¡ 1 L¡ R¡
ei km (x ¡ a / 2)
¡
P̄u m4 P̄u m1
^ ^
u m4 m1 u ¡ 1
Vp = + (62)
m=1 Bm+ km+ m= 1 Bm¡ km¡
In this article, a ve-layer laminated square plate (0± / 45±/ 90±/ 45± / 0±) is considered
as an example. The material properties are equal for all layers:
E 1 = 30 GPa E 2 = 5 GPa
G 12 = 10 GPa l 12 = 0.25
The dimensions of the plate are a = b = 350 mm, and the thicknesses of the layers are
h 1 = h 5 = 1.0 mm, h 2 = h 4 = 1.5 mm, h 3 = 2.0 mm.
The convergence of the SEM is investigated rst. Table 1 shows a comparison of SEM
solutions with different strip element number for a simply supported plate under uniformly
distributed transverse load. It is clear from the results that the convergence of the SEM is
very good.
The bending analysis of the plate is carried out for the line load p = 7 N/mm acting
at x = 0. The de ection results at center of the plate for different boundary conditions are
presented in Table 2. When compared with Rayleigh-Ritz solutions, it is found that the
maximum difference between the SEM and Rayleigh-Ritz solutions is 0.62%.
Next, the de ection results at the center of the plate which are subject to a uniform
lateral load q = 0.02 N/mm2 are also given in Table 2. In this case the maximum discrepancy
is 0.66%. The displacement distributions along the y axis for different boundary conditions
are shown in Figures 4 and 5.
Once the displacement eld is obtained, the stresses in the plate can be calculated from
Eq. (4). Figures 6 and 7 show the stresses distribution along the z axis on the center point of
Table 1
Convergence of the SEM solutions for a simply supported plate
subjected to a uniformly distributed transverse load
Number
of Elements 2 4 6 8 10
w (mm) 2.2948 2.3033 2.3044 2.3048 2.3049

r x (MPa) 19.261 19.328 19.332 19.333 19.333
r y (MPa) 7.522 7.388 7.368 7.360 7.357
k x y (MPa) 4.866 4.913 4.942 4.952 4.957
the plate. From Table 2 and Figures 4 – 7, very good agreement is observed. It can be seen
that the present SEM is a very accurate method.
The above examples are all for the case that the loads are uniformly distributed in the y
direction where the force vector Pe is given as in the Appendix. If the load is not uniformly
distributed in the y direction, the vector Pe should be determined using the integration
formula.
For the case of point load p, acting at a node line of an element, the element of force
vector P at this node line is p, and is zero at other node lines. The particular solution
can be calculated using Eq. (61). An example is given for a plate loaded by a point load
p = 2,450 N at the center of the plate. The de ection result and comparison with the
Rayleigh-Ritz solution are given in Figure 8.
If the plate is subjected to a uniform line load along the x axis, the load vector P can be
treated just as the point-load case and the particular solution is calculated using Eq. (62).
The de ection distribution for the case of line load p = 7 N/mm acting at y = 175 mm is
given in Figure 9.
When the plate is partially loaded in the region of x2 · x · x 1 and y2 · y · y1 (see the
shaded rectangle in Figure 3) and q(x, y) = q x (x )q y (y), the vector Pe of strips between y2
and y1 can be calculated using the integration formula given in the Appendix. The vector
Pe for other strips outside the loading region is zero. The force vector can be written as
P = P̄qx (x ) (63)
Table 2
Displacements on the center of the plate (unit: mm)
Line Load Distributed Load
Method Rayleigh-Ritz SEMa Rayleigh-Ritz SEMa
S-S-S-S 3.7549 3.7761 2.2905 2.3049

C-C-C-C 1.4511 1.4558 0.7181 0.7200
S-S-C-C 2.1494 2.1637 1.1960 1.2029
C-S-C-S 1.7864 1.7948 0.8949 0.8986
a
Ten elements are used.
Figure 4. De ection distributions along the y axis for the four edges of a simply supported
plate subjected to a uniformly distributed loading. Comparison of SEM and Rayleigh-Ritz
solutions.
The solution can be obtained by integrating Eq. (61). If the load is uniformly distributed in
the x direction between x2 and x1, the particular solution is
2M L¡ R¡
ìï ^ ei km (x ¡ ¡ ei km (x ¡
¡ x1) ¡ x2)
u m4 P̄u m1
ïïï m =1
Bm¡ k m¡
x < x2
ïï 2M L¡ R¡
ei km (x ¡
¡ x1) 2M L+ R+
ei km (x ¡
¡ x 2)
m4 P̄u m1 1 m4 P̄u 1
í m^ = 1 ^
u ¡ u m1 ¡
Vp = + x2 · x < x1
Bm¡ km¡ Bm+ km+
ïï m =1
ïï 2M L+
m4 P̄u
R+
ei km (x ¡
¡ x2)
¡ ei km (x ¡
¡ x1)
ïï ^ u m1
x ¸ x1
î m =1 Bm+ k m+
(64)
The example of a uniform load q = 0.08 N/mm2 in the region of ¡ a / 4 · x · a / 4 and
b / 4 · y · 3b / 4 has been considered, for which results are shown in Figure 10.
Another example considered here is that the load is sinusoidally distributed on the plate
de ned as
p x p y
q(x, y) = q0 sin sin (65)
a b
Figure 5. De ection distributions along the y axis for the plate with two edges (S1 and S2 )
simply supported and two edges (S3 and S4 ) clamped, subjected to a uniformly distributed
loading. Comparison of SEM and Rayleigh-Ritz solutions.
Figure 6. Stress (r xx ) distribution through the thickness at the center of the four edges of
a simply supported plate subjected to a uniformly distributed loading.
Figure 7. Stress (r yy ) distribution through the thickness at the center of the four edges of
a simply supported plate subjected to a uniformly distributed loading.
plate subjected to point loading (x = 0, y = 0). Comparison of SEM and Rayleigh-Ritz
solutions.
plate subjected to uniform line loading along x at y = 0. Comparison of SEM and Rayleigh-
Ritz solutions.
Then the elements of force vector can be calculated from
* sin p (y b + y) n (y) d y
be
g0
Pie = q0 i (66)
0
where yg0 denotes the global coordinate value of the element coordinate y = 0. The particular
solution obtained by integrating Eq. (61) is given as
2M L¡ R¡
(p / a) sin(p x / a) ¡ i km¡ cos(p x / a) ¡ (p / a)ei km (x ¡ a / 2)
¡
m4 P̄u m1
^
u
Vp = i
m =1
Bm¡ ¡ (km¡ )2 + (p / a)2
L+ R+ +
u m4 P̄u m1 (p / a) sin(p x / a) ¡ i km+ cos(p x / a) + (p / a)ei km (x + a / 2)
£ i (67)
Bm¡ ¡ (km+ )2 + (p / a)2
For q0 = 0.04 N/mm2 , the result is shown in Figure 11.

From Figures 8 – 11, it is shown that the SEM solutions have good agreement with the
analytical solutions for various load cases. Figure 12 show the SEM results of the plate
when subject to a uniform lateral load q = 0.02 N/mm2 . The plate is clamped at S1 and
S2 and free at the other two edges. It can be concluded that the SEM can be used for any
boundary conditions and load case, and the SEM is an ef cient method for the bending
analysis of plates.
Figure 10. De ection distributions along the y axis for the four edges of a simply sup-
ported plate subjected to partially uniform load in the region of ¡ a / 4 · x · a / 4 and
b / 4 · y · 3b / 4. Comparison of SEM and Rayleigh-Ritz solutions.
plate subjected to sine-distributed loading on the whole plate. Comparison of SEM and
Rayleigh-Ritz solutions.
Figure 12. De ection distributions along the y axis for the plate with two edges (S1 and
S2 ) clamped and two edges (S3 and S4 ) free which is subjected to a uniformly distributed
loading.
CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION

The strip element method for the bending analysis of symmetric laminated composite
plates has been proposed. The one-dimension reduced differential equations for the bending
analysis of an anisotropic plate has been derived. Solutions for various boundary condi-
tions and load cases have been presented. The results calculated from the SEM have been
compared with the Rayleigh-Ritz solutions and good agreement is observed. The study has
shown that the convergence of SEM is very good. It is also found that there is only about 2%
difference between the results obtained using 2 and 10 elements (see Table 1). It is shown
that the SEM is an accurate numerical method.
In this article, the bending problems of symmetric laminated plates are solved using the
SEM based on the CLPT to demonstrate the application of the SEM. Although no in-plane
displacements of the midplane are admitted in the present work, the SEM can be extended to
solve arbitrary laminated plates in which the in-plane displacements of the midplane should
be considered. Also, the restriction to the CLPT is thin plates, but the SEM applicability
can be extended toward the solution of the differential equations of shear deformable plate
theories, such as FSDT.
REFERENCES
[1] J. N. Reddy, Mechanics of Laminated Composite Plate: Theory and Analysis, CRC Press, Boca
Raton, FL, 1997.
[2] S. Timoshenko and S. Woinowsky-Krieger, Theory of Plates and Shells, 2d ed., McGraw-Hill,
New York, 1959.
[3] J. M. Whitney, The Effect of Transverse Shear Deformation in the Bending of Laminated Plates,
J. Composite Mater., vol. 3, pp. 534 – 547, 1969.
[4] J. M. Whitney and N. J. Pagano, Shear Deformation in Heterogeneous Anisotropic Plates, ASME
J. Appl. Mech., vol. 37, pp. 1031 – 1036, 1970.
[5] E. A. Reissner, Consistent Treatment of Transverse Shear Deformations in Laminated Anisotropic
Plates, AIAA J., vol. 10, pp. 716 – 718, 1972.
[6] J. N. Reddy, A Simple Higher-Order Theory for Laminated Composite Plates, ASME J. Appl.
Mech., vol. 51, pp. 745 – 752, 1984.
[7] O. C. Zienkiwicz, The Finite Element Method, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1977.
[8] J. N. Reddy and A. Miravete, Finite Element Analysis of Laminated Structures, CRC Press, Boca
Raton, FL, 1995.

[9] Y. K. Cheung, The Finite Strip Method in Structural Analysis, Pergamon Press, Oxford, U.K.,
1976.
[10] D. E. Beskos (ed.), Boundary Element Method in Mechanics, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1987.
[11] M. A. Stern, General Boundary Integral Formulation for the Numerical Solution of Plate Bending
Problems, Int. J. Solids Structures, vol. 15, pp. 769 – 782, 1979.
[12] G. R. Liu and J. D. Achenbach, A Strip Element Method for Stress Analysis of Anisotropic
Linearly Elastic Solid, ASME J. Appl. Mech., vol. 61, pp. 270 – 277, 1994.
[13] G. R. Liu and J. D. Achenbach, Strip Element Method to Analyze Wave Scattering by Cracks
in Anisotropic Laminated Plates, ASME J. Appl. Mech., vol. 62, pp. 607 – 613, 1995.
[14] G. R. Liu and K. Y. Lam, Characterization of a Horizontal Crack in Anisotropic Laminated
Plates, Int. J. Solids Structures, vol. 31, pp. 2965 – 2977, 1994.
[15] G. R. Liu, K. Y. Lam, and J. Tani, Strip Element Method for Characterization of Flaws in
Sandwich Plates, JSME Int. J. (A), vol. 38, pp. 554 – 562, 1995.
[16] K. Y. Lam, G. R. Liu, and Y. Y. Wang, Characterization of a Vertical Surface-Breaking Crack in
Plates, J. Comput. Acoust., vol. 3, pp. 297 – 310, 1995.
[17] Y. Y. Wang, K. Y. Lam, G. R. Liu, J. N. Reddy, and J. Tani, A Strip Element Method for Bending
Analysis of Orthotropic Plates, JSME Int. J. (A), vol. 40, pp. 398 – 406, 1997.
[18] G. R. Liu, J. Tani, T. Ohyoshi, and K. Watanabe, Transient Waves in Anisotropic Laminated
Plates, Part 1: Theory; Part 2: Application, ASME J. Vibration Acoust., vol. 113, pp. 230 – 239,
1991.
APPENDIX
The matrices in Eq. (23) are
é 523b e 19b2e 4be ¡ 8be2 131be ¡ 29be2

ù
êêê
3465 2310
2be3
63
2be2
693
¡ be3
6930
29b2e
13860
¡ be3úúú
êêê 3465 315 1155 13860 4620 úúú
êêê 12be
0
4be ¡ 2be2
úúú
Be1 = D11
êêê
315
32be3
63
8be2
315
úúú
¡ be3
êêê 3465 693 1155 úúú

êêê sym.
523be ¡ 19be2
úúú
úû
3465 2310
êë 2b3e
3465
é0 23be 8 ¡ 32be 5
ù
¡ be
êêê
630 21
8be
315
¡ 2b2e
42
be úúú
90
¡ be2
êêê
0
315 315 90 1260úúú
êêê 0
64be 8 ¡ 8be
úúú
úúú
Be2 = 4D 16 315 21 315
êêê 32be ¡ 2be2
úúú
asy 0
êêê 315 315
úú
23be
êê 0
630
ë 0
û
é 105b ù
¡ 278 ¡ 118 256 ¡ 8 22 1
êêê
e 210 105be 21 105be
úúú
70
¡ 2be ¡ 8 4be ¡ 1 be
êêê 45 105 315 70 126

úúú
úúú
¡ 512 256 ¡ 8
êêê 105be
0
105be 105
úúú
Be3 = 2D 12
êêê ¡ 128be 8 4be
êêê
315 21
¡ 278
315
118úúú
êê
sym.
105be 210úú
ë û
¡ 2be
45
é ù
¡ 278 ¡ 13 256 ¡ 8 22 1
êêê
105be 210
¡ 2be
105be
¡ 8
21
4be
105be
¡ 1
70
be úúú
êêê 45 105 315 70 126
úúú
úúú
¡ 512 256 ¡ 8
êêê 105be
0
105be 105
úúú
+ 4D66
êêê ¡ 128be 8 4be
êêê
315 21
¡ 278
315
13 úúú
êê
sym.
105be 210 úú
ë ¡ 2be
45 û
é0 ù
¡ 79 32 128 ¡ 32 31
êêê
35be 7be2
¡ 48
35be
32
7be2
¡ 31
35be
11 úúú
êêê
0
35be 35 35be 70 úúú
êêê 0
¡ 256 32 48
úúú
úúú
Be4 = 4D 26 35be 7be2 35be
êêê ¡ 128 32
êêê
0
35be 35 úúú
êêë asy 0
¡ 79
úú
û
35be
0
é ù
5092 1138 ¡ 512 384 ¡ 1058 242
êêê
35be3 35be2
332
5be3
¡ 128
7be2
64
35b3e
242 úúú
35be2
38
êêê 35be 5be2 7be 35b2e 35beúúú

êêê
1024
0
¡ 512 128
úúú
úúú
5be3 5be3 5be2
Be5 = D22
êêê 256 ¡ 384 64
êêê 7be 7be2 7beúúú

êêê sym.
5092 ¡ 1138
úúú
úû
35b3e 35be2
êë 332
35be
The elements of vector Pe in Eq. (23) are
* p(y)n (y) dy
be
Pie = i
0
If p(y) = p is constant (load is uniformly distributed along y-direction), the vector Pe

is given as
7be
ìï üï
ïï 30 ïï
ïï ïï
ïï be2 ïï
ïï 60 ïï
ïï ïï
ïï 8be
ïï
Pe = p í 15 ý
ïï 0 ïï
ïï 7be ïï
ï
ïï ï
ïï 30 ïï
ïï b2 ï
ïï ¡ e ïï
î 60 þ

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This article was downloaded by: [University of Reading]

On: 05 January 2015, At: 23:07

Bending Analysis of Classical

To cite this article: Y. Y. Wang, K. Y. Lam, G. R. Liu (2000) Bending Analysis of

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10759410050031095

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Bending Analysis of Classical Symmetric Laminated

Received 29 March 1999; accepted 19 October 1999.

PLATE BENDING ANALYSIS

Figure 1. The coordination system of the laminated composite plate.

of the displacement functions. Then the strain vector can be written as

is the differential operator matrix, in which a superscript T denotes the transposed

where Q̄k is the transformed stiffness matrix, given by

Q̄k = TQk T T (5)

in which T is the transform matrix for the kth layer:

or, in matrix form,

THE STRIP ELEMENT METHOD

and 0 · y · b. The problem domain of the plate is stated as ¡ a / 2 · x · a / 2, 0 · y · b,

The matrices Bi (i = 1 – 5), P can be obtained by assembling the corresponding matrices

SOLUTION OF DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

This equation can be changed to a standard eigenvalue equation with respect to k:

Solving Eq. (27) using a general eigenvalue-solving subroutine, 4M eigenvalues k j

The displacement associated to the complementary solution can be obtained by superposi-

where the subscript c indicates the complementary solution and

P̃ = [k 4 B1 ¡ i k 3 B2 ¡ k 2 B3 + ikB4 + B5 ]Ṽ p (32)

This equation can be rewritten as

The eigenvalues km , left eigenvectors u mL , and right eigenvectors u mR corresponding to

where d nm = 1 for m = n and d nm = 0 for m 6 = n. Applying the modal analysis technique

DETERMINATION OF CONSTANTS VECTOR C USING BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

w = n 1 (y)w 1 + n 2 (y)q 1 + n 3 (y)w 2 + n 4 (y)q 2 + n 5 (y)w 3 + n 6 (y)q 3 (43)

and so its derivatives with respect to x are

Boundary conditions of clamped supported edges

Boundary conditions of simply supported edges

in which the following additional boundary conditions are introduced:

Boundary conditions for free boundaries

+ (D12 + 4D66 )( j + 2)( j + 1)n i j + 2

+ 2D26 ( j + 3)( j + 2)( j + 1)n i j + 3 v i

w (mm) 2.2948 2.3033 2.3044 2.3048 2.3049

Line Load Distributed Load

Method Rayleigh-Ritz SEMa Rayleigh-Ritz SEMa

S-S-S-S 3.7549 3.7761 2.2905 2.3049

Then the elements of force vector can be calculated from

For q0 = 0.04 N/mm2 , the result is shown in Figure 11.

CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION

Raton, FL, 1995.

é 523b e 19b2e 4be ¡ 8be2 131be ¡ 29be2

êêê 3465 693 1155 úúú

êêê 45 105 315 70 126

êêê 35be 5be2 7be 35b2e 35beúúú

êêê 7be 7be2 7beúúú

The elements of vector Pe in Eq. (23) are

If p(y) = p is constant (load is uniformly distributed along y-direction), the vector Pe

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