An efficient shear deformation theory with stretching effect for bending stress analysis of laminated composite plates

The focus of this paper is to develop an analytical approach based on an efficient shear deformation theory with stretching effect for bending stress analysis of cross-ply laminated composite plates subjected to transverse parabolic load and line load by using a new kinematic model, in which the axial displacements involve an undetermined integral component in order to reduce the number of unknowns and a sinusoidal function in terms of the thickness coordinate to include the effect of transverse shear deformation. The present theory contains only five unknowns and satisfies the zero shear stress conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate without using any shear correction factors. The governing differential equations and its boundary conditions are derived by employing the static version of principle of virtual work. Closed-form solutions for simply supported cross-ply laminated plates are obtained applying Navier's solution technique, and the numerical case studies are compared with the theoretical results to verify the utility of the proposed model. Lastly, it can be seen that the present outlined theory is more accurate and useful than some higher-order shear deformation theories developed previously to study the static flexure of laminated composite plates.