Bending Analysis of Classical Symmetric Laminated Composite Plates by the Strip Element Method

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 infinite-length plate is first 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 finally used to determine the deflection distribution in the plate. The strip element solutions are presented for a rectangular laminated 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.