Engineering Structures 26 (2004) 211220

www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct

Static, free vibration and buckling analysis of anisotropic thick

laminated composite plates on distributed and point elastic supports
using a 3-D layer-wise FEM
A.R. Setoodeh a, G. Karami b,

a

Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71345, Iran
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, North Dakota State University, Dolve 201, PO box 5285,
Fargo, ND 58105, USA
Received 7 January 2003; received in revised form 25 August 2003; accepted 18 September 2003

Abstract
A three-dimensional elasticity based layer-wise nite element method (FEM) is employed to study the static, free vibration and
buckling responses of general laminated thick composite plates. Various mixed boundary conditions and free edge conditions are
conveniently and accurately implemented. The methodology is employed in modeling the laminated composite plates resting on
Winkler and Pasternak types of elastic foundations. Elastic line and point supports are also successfully incorporated for thick
plates. Employing this methodology, the eects of shear deformation may easily be studied for moderately thick and thick plates.
A computer code, named LW3D, has been developed. Several examples are presented to verify the accuracy of the algorithm and
the coding.
# 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Composite laminates; 3-D Elasticity; Layer-wise; Finite elements; Buckling; Vibration; Elastic foundation

1. Introduction
Based on dierent assumptions for displacement
elds, dierent theories for plate analysis have been
devised. These theories can be divided into three major
categories, the individual layer theories, the equivalent
single-layer (ESL) theories, and the three-dimensional
elasticity solution procedures. These categories are further divided into sub-theories by the introduction of
dierent assumptions. For example, the second category includes the classical laminated plate theory
(CLPT), the rst-order and higher-order shear deformation theories (FSDT and HSDT).
In the individual layer laminate theories, each layer
is considered as a separate plate. Since the displacement elds and equilibrium equations are written for
each layer, adjacent layers must be matched at each


Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-701-231-5859; fax: +1-701-2318913.
E-mail address: g.karami@ndsu.nodak.edu (G. Karami).

0141-0296/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.engstruct.2003.09.009

interface by selecting appropriate interfacial conditions

for displacements and stresses. In the ESL laminate
theories, the stress or the displacement eld is expressed as a linear combination of unknown functions and
the coordinate along the thickness. If the in-plane displacements are expanded in terms of the thickness
coordinate up to the nth power, the theory is named
nth-order shear deformation theory. The simplest ESL
laminate theory is the CLPT. This theory is applicable
to homogenous thin plates (a=h> 20). In the FSDT,
the transverse shear strain is assumed to be constant
along the thickness and thus a shear correction factor
is necessary. The HSDT is capable of considering a
quadratic variation for transverse shear strains. The
CLPT is usually capable of providing a rough estimation to the solution of plate problems, while shear
deformation based theories, although more dicult in
practice, can predict the behavior of laminas and plates
more accurately under most circumstances.
In the three-dimensional elasticity solution, each
layer is modeled as a three-dimensional solid. Usually,

212

A.R. Setoodeh, G. Karami / Engineering Structures 26 (2004) 211220

the anisotropy in laminated composite structures causes

complicated responses under dierent loading conditions
by creating complex couplings between extension,
bending, and shear deformation modes. To capture the
full mechanical behavior, it must be described by threedimensional elasticity theories. Except for certain cases,
it is not convenient to fully solve the problem in threedimensions due to the complexity, size of the computation, and the production of unnecessary data,
especially for composite structures. As one approach to
overcome this problem, Reddy and Barbero [1] proposed the layer-wise theory, where the assumed displacement eld exhibits Co continuity through the
laminate thickness. Therefore, the displacement eld is
continuous across the laminate thickness but the derivatives of the displacement (strains) with respect to the
thickness coordinate can be discontinuous, which
leaves the possibility of the continuous transverse stresses between dissimilar layers.
Due to the vast application of composite laminates
in industry, static, dynamic and buckling analysis of
such elements are the focus of attention for mechanical
and structural engineers. For example, Pagano [2]
developed an exact 3-D elasticity solution for static
analysis of rectangular bi-directional composites and
sandwich plates. Noor [3,4] presented a solution for
stability and vibration of multi-layered composite
plates based on three-dimensional elasticity theory by
solving equations with the nite dierence method.
Reddy and Khdeir [5] conducted an analytical solution
by ESL theories (CLPT, FSDT, HSDT) to study the
buckling and free vibration behavior of cross-ply laminated composite plates. As for the buckling analysis of
plates on elastic foundation, there are only a limited
number of references available. Gbadeyan [6] studied
the free vibration of initially stressed isotropic rectangular thin plates by applying a perturbation
method. Takahashi and Sonoda [7] generated buckling
and vibration results for thin rectangular plates on Pasternak foundation by the Galerkin method. Xiang et al.
[8] presented buckling and vibration of moderately
thick laminates based on FSDT plate theory for Pasternak foundations. Wang et al. [9] showed relationships between the buckling loads of simply supported
plates using classical and shear deformable theories.
Using FSDT, Aiello and Ombres [10] studied the buckling and vibration response of moderately thick simply
supported rectangular laminated with initial in-plane
stresses resting on an elastic foundation. Dogruoglu
and Omurtag [11] investigated the stability of composite laminated plates with Pasternak type foundation, and have demonstrated the interaction and the
inuence of the second parameter (in Pasternak foundation modeling) on the critical buckling loads by nite
element method. Huang and Thambiratnam [12] pre-

sented an analysis of plate resting on elastic supports

and elastic foundation by the nite strip method.
Even as plates on elastic foundations are often
encountered in many practical applications, the analysis of a general problem of thick reinforced laminated
plate resting on elastic foundation with point and line
elastic supports, has not hitherto been addressed by
three-dimensional layer-wise theory. In this paper, a
generalized layer-wise laminated plate theory based on
a three-dimensional approach for static, vibration, and
buckling analysis of ber reinforced laminated composite plates has been developed. The layer-wise theory
is rened to take into account the variation of the variables through the thickness [13]. In comparison to a
full three-dimensional elasticity formulation, the layerwise method has some benets. For example, in the
context of the FEM, instead of the three-dimensional
solid elements through the layers, two-dimensional elements in the plane of the laminate can be employed
with one-dimensional elements through the thickness.
Both types of elements can be rened independent of
each other. The approach compromises between twoand three-dimensional plate theories, which considerably reduces the number of manipulations, and the
complexity in the formulation of the three-dimensional
nite element method. The approach actually shrinks
the modeling to a combined two- and one-dimensional
analysis. The methodology can still be applied to thick
as well as thin plates, while shear deformation theories
cannot be used easily for thick plates.

2. Numerical formulation
As shown in Fig. 1, consider a at rectangular laminate resting on an elastic foundation with ber orientation angle of h with respect to x-axis. The plate has a
length a, width b, constant thickness h and density q. It
is assumed subject to uniformly compressive dis
y bN0 and

x aN0 , N
tributed in-plane forces of N


N xy cN0 . For buckling analysis, these forces stand
for negative values of in-plane force resultants Nxx, Nyy
and Nxy, respectively. In Fig. 1, ks is the Winkler foundation stiness and Gb is the shear modulus of the subgrade which is distributed uniformly under the plate.
2.1. Three-dimensional layer-wise plate formulation
The internal virtual work in matrix notation is as
follows,
h=2 a b
Wi
fdegT frgdV
1
h=2 0 0

The stresses and strains can be separated into the

A.R. Setoodeh, G. Karami / Engineering Structures 26 (2004) 211220

213

stiness matrix (dij) as,

D11 d11 cos4 h 2d12 2d66 cos2 hsin2 h d22 sin4 h
D12 d12 cos4 h d11 d22  4d66 cos2 hsin2 h d12 sin4 h
D13 d13 cos2 h d23 sin2 h
5

Fig. 1. Geometry and loading conditions of a laminated plate on

x ; Nyy N

y ; Nxy N

xy .
elastic foundation Nxx N

bending and shearing parts, i.e.

h=2 a b
Wi
fdeb gT frb gdV
h=2 0 0
h=2 a b
fdes gT frs gdV :

D16 d11  d12  2d66 cos3 hsinh

2d66 d12  d22 coshsin3 h
D26 d12  d22 2d66 cos3 hsinh
d11  d12  2d66 coshsin3 h
D36 d12  d23 coshsinh
D66 d11  d22  2d12  2d66 cos2 hsin2 h
d66 cos4 h sin4 h

D44 d44 cos2 h d55 sin2 h

D45 d55  d44 coshsinh
D55 d55 cos2 h d44 sin2 h

u1 x;y;z;t
2
u2 x;y;z;t

The subscripts s and b indicate the shear and bending

quantities, respectively. The shear and bending stiness
matrices are computed explicitly. This helps to treat the
shear locking phenomena caused by the reduced Gaussian integration scheme. The stress and strain tensors
as well as the constitutive relations may be written as,

T

T
feb g ex ; ey ; ez ; 2exy
fes g 2eyz ; 2exz

T

T
3
frb g rx ; ry ; rz ; sxy
frs g syz ; sxz
frb g Cb
feb g
frs g Cs
fes g
Cb and Cs are the general constitutive matrices dened
in the laminate coordinate system, that is,
2
3
D11 D12 D13 D16
6D
7
6 12 D22 D23 D26 7
Cb
6
7
4 D13 D23 D33 D36 5
D16 D26 D36

D44 D45
Cs

D45 D55

The displacements at any point are dened using the

following interpolating functions,

h=2 0 0

D22 d22 cos4 h 2d12 2d66 cos2 hsin2 h d11 sin4 h

D23 d23 cos2 h d13 sin2 h
D33 d33

D66
4

where Dij are the transformed elastic coecients. Using

the appropriate transformation, Dij coecients can be
expressed in terms of the components of material

u3 x;y;z;t

p
n P


P
uij xij ;yij ;t wi x;yUj z

j1i1
p
n P
P
j1i1
p
n P
P
j1i1



vij xij ;yij ;t wi x;yUj z



wij xij ;yij ;t wi x;yUj z

where wi(x,y) and Uj(z) are the 2-D and 1-D Lagrangian shape functions and uij, vij and wij are the displacement components of the ith node corresponding to the
jth plane in the x, y and z directions, respectively. p is
the number of nodes in the xy plane, and n is the
number of nodes along the normal direction to the xy
plane.
Each ply is discretized into several two-dimensional
elements in the xy plane. Also, depending on the
accuracy required each ply is divided into one or several layers along the thickness direction which are
named as numerical plies. Reddy and Barbero [1] used
global shape functions along the z-direction, while in
the present work, all shape functions are dened in
local coordinates to make the procedure more systematic. A brief derivation of the three-dimensional elasticity layer-wise descretization of Eq. (2) using the
displacement eld Eq. (9) is provided in Appendix A.

214

A.R. Setoodeh, G. Karami / Engineering Structures 26 (2004) 211220

2.2. The assembled system of equations

2.3. Finite element modeling

The principle of virtual work is employed, in general,

to obtain the governing equations of the structural system. The virtual work due to internal forces has been
given by Eq. (2). The virtual work due to inertia forces
can be written as,
h=2 a b
qdu1
10
u1 du2
u2 du3
u3 dV
Wm

The procedure described in Appendix A should be

applied to the terms in the virtual work equations in
order to develop the corresponding stiness matrices,
mass matrix and the load vectors. After assemblage,
the nal system of discretized equations is

h=2 0 0

Under the application of external in-plane loads, we

have the following equation for the uniform normal
and shear in-plane forces (see Fig. 1).
h=2 a b 


xy 
 N

Nx 
du3;x u3;x
du3;y u3;x
Wp
h
h
h=2 0 0


y 

 N

du3;x u3;y
du3;y u3;y dV
11
h
If q(x,y) stands for the external transverse loading, the
associate external virtual work is,
Wq

ab

qx;ydu3 dxdy

12

0 0

Both one-parameter (Winkler) and two-parameter

(Pasternak) elastic foundations are applied to model
the foundation. It is obvious that the second model is
more general since the shear eects are included.
Finally, the work done on the plate by the elastic foundation would be expressed as,
ab




ks du3 u3 Gb du3; x u3; x
0 0 

du3; y u3; y dA

We

13

In the presence of elastic line (either in x or y directions) and point supports, Eq. (13) is replaced by
Eqs. (14) and (15).
8 b




>
>
ks du3 u3 Gb du3; x u3; x
>
>
>
0
>
>
>
< du3; y u3; y
dy
xcte
14
We a




>
>
>
ks du3 u3 Gb du3; x u3; x
>
>
> 0
>
>



:
du3; y u3; y ycte dx




We ks du3 u3 Gb du3; x u3; x



15
du3; y u3; y xcte; ycte
where ks is the Winkler foundation stiness and Gb is
the shear modulus of the sub-grade. If ks and Gb were
given values other than 0, the foundation model is
known as Pasternak. For Winkler-type foundation
model, Gb is 0.

g ki
ke

fDg 
qm
fD

N0
P
fDg fFg
h

16

where [m] is the mass matrix, [ki] is the total stiness

matrix of the plate, [ke] is the stiness matrix due to
elastic foundations, [P] is the buckling load matrix, {F}
is external out-of-plane load vector, and {D} represents
the displacement vector comprised of (uij, vij, wij) components.
For free vibration analyses, the virtual work due to
external forces is set to 0. The nal discretized form of
the nite element equations is an eigenvalue problem as
g ki
ke

fDg f0g:
qm
fD

17

The natural frequencies are found by linking the computer code to the MATLAB software [14].
For buckling analyses, where the virtual work due to
in-plane loads has to be taken into account, the nal
system of discretized equations becomes
N0
P
fDg f0g
18
h
An important point is the coupling between the inplane displacements (uij, vij) and the displacement in
the z direction (wij) in which we are capable of nding
all modes in the three directions. After the assemblage,
Eq. (18) has to be uncoupled by rewriting it in terms of
(wij), followed by the application of the essential
boundary conditions.
ki
ke

fDg 

3. Numerical results
Several examples are solved to demonstrate the accuracy and eciency of the method. In the examples considered, both symmetric and antisymmetric cross-ply
thick rectangular laminates are considered and the following material properties are assumed,
Material type 1: E 1 =E 2 40, E 2 E 3 ; G 12 G13
0:6E 2 , G23 0:5E 2 ; m12 m13 0:25, m23 0.
Material type 2: E 1 25  106 psi, E 2 E 3 106 psi;
G 12 G 13 0:5  106 psi, G 23 0:2  106 psi; m12 m13
m23 0:25.
Layers are assumed to have identical thickness and
material properties. The plates were modeled using 9node quadratic elements on the xy plane and quadratic 3-node elements along the thickness (z-direction).
For mesh designation, a 2  3  3 mesh means two
divisions in x, three divisions in y direction and three

A.R. Setoodeh, G. Karami / Engineering Structures 26 (2004) 211220

Table 1

for a simply
Comparison of nondimensionalized center deection w
supported (0/90/0) laminate (b 3a, material 2)
Type of solution

Exact 3-D [2]

LW3D (3  4  3)
Error (%)
LW3D (3  4  6)
Error (%)
LW3D (Winkler)a
LW3D (Pasternak)b
a
b

Span to thickness ratio (a/h)

2

10

20

8.17
7.9194
3.07
8.1408
0.36
5.0747
4.0710

2.82
2.7979
0.78
2.8191
0.03
2.2039
1.8004

0.919
0.9181
0.10
0.9188
0.02
0.8412
0.7704

0.610
0.6094
0.10
0.6095
0.08
0.5744
0.5404

215

ary conditions. A plate with boundary conditions

SFSC means that sides AB, BC, CD, DA (see Fig. 1)
are simply supported, free, simply supported and
clamped, respectively.
3.1. Static analysis

Winkler model: dk 10, dg 0, 3  4  3 mesh.

Pasternak model: dk 10, dg 1, 3  4  3 mesh.

elements through the thickness. For most cases,

reduced Gaussian integration was used to determine
the shearing stiness. Deection (w), frequency (x),
and critical buckling load (Nc) are nondimensionalized

,
according to the following relations and denoted by w
X, and K, respectively. Also, elastic stiness coecients
(ks and Gb) are nondimensionalized and denoted by dk
and dg.


100 E2 h3 w q0 a4 ;
w


X xb2 h q=E2 1=2 ;

19
K Nc b2 E2 h2

Elastic foundation : dk ks =L4E2 h3 ; dg Gb L2 E2 h3
3
3
Elastic line support : dk ks L3 E
2 h ; 3 dg Gb L=E2 h 3
2
Elastic point support : dk ks L E2 h ; dg Gb =E2 h
20
Where E2 is Youngs modulus transverse to ber direction, h is the total thickness of the composite plate, q0
is the intensity of the distributed transverse load, and L
is the shorter in-plane dimension, depending on the
plate lengths aspect ration (a/b). The geometrical
boundary conditions along the sides of the laminate are
designated by letters C, F, and S, where C stands for
clamped, F for free and S for simply supported bound-

Both symmetric and antisymmetric cross-ply composite laminates, which are subjected to a sinusoidal
transverse load (qx;y q0 sinpx=asinpy=b) distributed on the upper surface of plate, are considered.
Table 1 presents nondimensionalized center mid-plane

a=2; b=2; 0 for a rectangular simply supdeection w
ported (0/90/0) laminated plate. Due to symmetry of
the problem, only one quadrant of the plate is modeled
using two types of meshing. The essential boundary
conditions for this example are set to,
u1 a=2;y;z u1 x;b;z 0; u2 x;b=2;z u2 a;y;z 0;
u3 a;y;z u3 x;b;z 0
The materials of the laminates are of type 2. This
particular problem has an exact 3-D elasticity solution
([2]) employed here to verify the solutions. The results
show good agreement even for a thick composite plate
(a=h 2), with a coarse mesh and with a highly anisotropic nature. The eects of elastic foundation on center mid-plane deection are also investigated. As the
Pasternak model takes into account shear eects of the
sub-grade, the predicted deection is less than what the
Winkler model forecasts. As one moves towards thinner plates, the deections become larger.
Table 2 contains dimensionless center mid-plane

a=2; b=2; 0 of a square (0/90) laminated
deection w
plate with dierent boundary conditions. The numerical values are compared with rst-order and higherorder shear deformation plate theories obtained by an
analytical Levy-type solution [13]. The accuracy of the
present method is clear, keeping in mind that in this
approach we are not limited to modeling special combinations of boundary conditions as in Levy-type
method. For SFSF, SSSS and SCSC boundary con-

Table 2

of square antisymmetric two cross-ply laminates with mixed boundary conditions (material 1)
Nondimensional center deection w
a/h

Type of solution

SFSF

SFSS

SCSF

SSSS

SCSS

SCSC

10

HSDT [13]
FSDT [13]
LW3D (present)
LW3D (Winkler)a
LW3D (Pasternak)b
HSDT [13]
FSDT [13]
LW3D (present)
LW3D (Winkler)a
LW3D (Pasternak)b

1.992
2.028
1.9947
0.5809
0.3204
2.624
2.777
2.6441
0.6843
0.3903

1.658
1.687
1.6584
0.5678
0.2943
2.211
2.335
2.2172
0.6747
0.3638

1.184
1.223
1.1918
0.4846
0.2700
1.733
1.897
1.7748
0.6220
0.3471

1.216
1.237
1.2162
0.5525
0.2679
1.667
1.758
1.6671
0.6639
0.3374

0.848
0.883
0.8568
0.4677
0.2449
1.333
1.477
1.3710
0.6129
0.3225

0.617
0.656
0.6297
0.3964
0.2240
1.088
1.257
1.1487
0.5657
0.3079

a
b

Winkler model: dk 100, dg 0.

Pasternak model: dk 100, dg 10.

216

A.R. Setoodeh, G. Karami / Engineering Structures 26 (2004) 211220

Fig. 3. A schematic view of deformed and undeformed status of a

laminated composite with the initial boundary condition FFFC and
having elastic line support along edge AB (dk 1).

Fig. 2. Dimensionless deections on the middle layer for the SFFC

boundary condition with elastic point support at C, and elastic line


support at edge CD (ab, h=a 0:2, material 1, dk 10, dg 1), (a) w

a=2; y; 0.
x; b=2; 0 (b) w

ditions, one quadrant of each plate is modeled with

2  2  2 mesh, whereas for other situations, a
4  2  2 mesh is used for a half-plate.

at the middle layer
The nondimensional deections w
of a (0/90) composite plate under SFFC edge boundary conditions and for dierent supports including,
elastic foundation, elastic line support and elastic point
support are plotted in Fig. 2. For this plate, elastic
point and line supports are considered at point C, and

at edge CD, respectively (see Fig. 1), as modications

to the initially simply supported, free, free, and
clamped edge conditions. One can see the deformed
shape of the composite mid-plane along x and y directions in this gure. We have considered intermediate
values for the elastic stiness parameters, which permit
the plate to have a small deection in z direction along
the elastic line support in comparison with the nofoundation case. As expected, point supports let the
plate deect more than the line supports. The elastic
distributed supports make the deformation more uniform. A full Gaussian integration scheme was used for
the case of point support, in order to prevent spurious
displacement modes.
A schematic view of deformed and undeformed status of a laminated composite with the initial boundary
condition FFFC, where the stiness coecient at the
edge AB approaches innity is shown in Fig. 3. In the
original situation, we have free condition at the edge
AB, but by considering an elastic line support along
this side with its elastic stiness being forced to
approach innity, the deection of this edge through
the thickness is also forced to become 0 as shown in
Fig. 3.
3.2. Free vibration analysis
Free vibration analysis is carried out for a square
antisymmetric two cross-ply laminate with material
properties of type 1. Table 3 presents a comparison of
computed nondimensionalized fundamental frequencies
of the plate for dierent plate theories. Note that the
three-dimensional elasticity solution of Noor [4]
demonstrates a lower bound where the classical plate
theory provides an upper bound. As the present sol-

A.R. Setoodeh, G. Karami / Engineering Structures 26 (2004) 211220

Table 3
Comparison of fundamental frequency parameter X xqh2 =E2 1=2
for a square simply supported thick composite plate with dierent
degrees of orthotropy and for dierent plate theories (a=h 5,
material 1)
Method

E 1 =E 2 40

E 1 =E 2 30

E 1 =E 2 20

Noor [4]
HSDT [5]
FDST [5]
CLPT [5]
Present a
Present b
Present c
Present d

0.34250
0.36348
0.35333
0.42884
0.34960
0.34776
0.37542
0.42129

0.32705
0.34020
0.33284
0.39335
0.33254
0.33061
0.35948
0.40701

0.30698
0.31284
0.30824
0.35422
0.30866
0.30836
0.33481
0.38905

a
b
c
d

Mesh: 2  2  2.
Mesh: 3  3  2.
Winkler model: dk 100, dg 0, mesh: 2  2  2.
Pasternak model: dk 100, dg 10, mesh: 2  2  2.

ution is closer to the lower bound solution, it yields a

more accurate result than the shear deformation theories. The values for the natural frequencies are presented at two mesh sizes (2  2  2 and 3  3  2) to
show the convergence of the method. When the degree
of orthotropy decreases, the discrepancies between the
predicted solutions also decrease. This is due to the fact
that the impact of shear deformation is more signicant for laminates with larger modulus ratios. Also, in
Table 3, the fundamental frequencies of the laminate
on Winkler and Pasternak-type elastic foundations for
particular stiness values are presented. There is no
other solution available by other laminate theories for
comparison with these cases.
The convergence behavior of the algorithm is displayed in Table 4. The fundamental frequencies were
found for two types of boundary conditions with point
and elastic supports for an anisotropic thick composite.
The plate is modeled with intermediate elastic stinesses as well as with an innite elastic stiness. It is
observed that rigid point supports need a ner mesh to
obtain a reasonable answer.
Table 4
Natural frequency parameter X, for square, thick (0/90) laminates
with point and line elastic supports for dierent meshes (material 1,
h=b 0:4)
Boundary
condition

Elastic
support

Mesh

10dk

10dg

X (dk 1)

CFFC

Point C

FFFC

Edge BC

2  2  2
3  3  2
4  4  2
5  5  2
6  6  2
2  2  2
3  3  2
4  4  2
5  5  2
6  6  2

0.5
0.5
0.5

10
10
10

0.05
0.05
0.05

1
1
1

2.7232
2.7187
2.7174

2.3911
2.3843
2.3829

3.1202
2.9527
2.8005
2.7911
2.7886
2.7546
2.7330
2.7220
2.7155
2.7143

217

Table 5
Fundamental frequency parameter X for square, thick (0/90) laminates with point supports at the corners and mixed boundary conditions (material 1)
Boundary
condition

Point
support

h/b 10dk

10dg

X (dk 1)

CFFC

Point C

SFFC

Point C

SFFS

Point C

FFFC

Point C

0.2
0.3
0.4
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.2
0.3
0.4

0.1
0.05
0.05
0.5
0.1
0.05
0.5
0.05
0.05
0.1
0.01
0.01

3.6419
3.1163
2.7174
3.2377
2.3806
2.0893
2.1315
1.3037
1.2405
2.3667
2.0534
1.8102

4.3331
3.3347
2.7886
3.6904
2.7491
2.2492
2.6726
1.8487
1.4832
2.5087
2.1513
1.8608

1
0.5
0.5
5
1
0.5
5
0.5
0.5
1
0.1
0.1

Natural frequencies of thick laminated plates having

elastic and rigid point supports are presented in
Table 5. For thin isotropic plates good agreement was
achieved with those of Mizusawa and Kajita [15]. The
frequencies in Table 5 are given for two situations of
Pasternak type point foundation and rigid point support. The latter was found by forcing the stiness coefcient of the elastic support to approach innity. The
point support was placed at point C. Various geometric
boundary conditions are considered. With attention to
Table 4, a 4  4  2 mesh was employed for the case of
Pasternak point supports and a 6  6  2 mesh was
used for the case of rigid point supports. As expected,
plates with a combination of free and simply supported
boundary conditions have lower fundamental frequency than those with clamped boundary conditions.
Fundamental frequencies of thick composite plates
including elastic and rigid line supports are also presented in Table 6. Dierent boundary conditions,
Table 6
Fundamental frequency parameter X for square, thick (0/90) laminates with line supports at the edges and mixed boundary conditions
(material 1)
Boundary
condition

Line
support

SFFC

Edge BC

FFFC

FFFF

FFFF

h/b dk

0.2
0.3
0.4
Edge BC 0.2
0.3
0.4
Edge AB 0.2
0.3
0.4
Edges AB, 0.2
CD
0.3
0.4

5
1
1
5
1
1
0.5
0.1
0.1
5
5
1

dg

X (dk 1)

0.5
0.1
0.1
0.5
0.1
0.1
0.05
0.01
0.01
0.5
0.5
0.1

4.7242
2.9117
2.5735
4.3402
2.6469
2.3829
0.9394
0.4347
0.4133
3.8788
2.7219
1.3250

5.8295
3.8623
2.8773
5.5603
3.6606
2.7155
2.1106
1.7512
1.3818
5.3252
3.8498
2.6586

218

A.R. Setoodeh, G. Karami / Engineering Structures 26 (2004) 211220

Table 7
Uniaxial, biaxial and shear buckling load factor K for a simply supported, symmetric three cross-ply laminate on elastic foundation
(a 1, b=h 10, material 1)
a/b dk

dg

0 0
100 0
100 10
0 0
100 0
100 10

b 0,
c 0

b 1,
c 0

b 1,
c 1

LW3D

FSDT [8] LW3D

FSDT [8] LW3D

22.2347
32.2356
49.2260
16.4247
32.3538
49.0397

22.3151
32.4472
50.7515
16.4340
32.4472
49.2666

10.2024
12.2288
22.2288
3.2868
9.5904
19.5904

9.9424
11.9233
21.8666
3.2694
9.3452
19.1402

8.8184
10.2648
17.2125
3.1317
8.2492
14.9427

including a plate with completely free edges was considered. Line supports were set individually and simultaneously at edge BC, AB, and CD to study dierent
types of boundary conditions. Two meshes (5  5  2
and 6  6  2) were used for the laminates with completely free edges. For other types of boundary conditions 4  4  2 and 5  5  2 meshes were used. The
ner mesh is related to rigid elastic line supports and
the coarser mesh is associated with Pasternak type line
supports. The results show the eect of thickness-toside length ratio on the natural frequencies. As this
ratio is increased, the frequency decreases.

have been compared with those of FSDT [8]. For the

coarse mesh (2  2  3 for a=b 1 and 3  2  3 for
a=b 2) employed here, accurate numerical solutions
were obtained.
The buckling data for a two-layer antisymmetric
cross-ply laminate is shown in Tables 8 and 9. In
Table 8, a comparison is made with HSDT, FSDT and
CLPT solutions [5] under dierent types of boundary
conditions. More results are also shown in Table 8 for
investigations into the eects of thickness-to-side length
ratios and also for Winkler and Pasternak foundationtype modeling. The classical plate theory yields an
upper bound solution as shown in Table 8.
A comparison of the results from dierent theories is
shown in Table 9. The results from three-dimensional
nite dierence elasticity by Noor [3] are lower bounds.
The present solution, on the other hand, should generate an upper bound for critical buckling load or fundamental frequency, as the derived governing equation of
the present algorithm is based on the principle of virtual work. The agreement is satisfactory. The convergence of the algorithm is tested using two dierent
meshes. It should be mentioned that at lower degrees
of orthotropy the discrepancy between LW3D and
shear deformation theories becomes negligible.

3.3. Buckling analysis under general loading

4. Conclusions

Table 7 presents the buckling load factors for the

case of uniaxial loading (b 0), biaxial loading (b 1)
and a general case (a 1; b 1; c 1) at two aspect
ratios (a/b) for a three-layers cross-ply symmetric laminate without and with elastic foundations of two dierent combinations of values for dk and dg. The solutions

By coupling a generalized layer-wise nite element

model with 3-D elasticity theory, a computer code for
the analysis of thick composite laminates was
developed. The code was employed to study the eects
of elastic foundations, elastic line supports and elastic
point supports in the static, critical buckling load as

Table 8
Comparison of dimensionless critical buckling loads K for square antisymmetric two cross-ply thick laminates with various boundary conditions
(a 0, b 1, material 1)
h/a

Type of solution

SFSF

SFSS

SFSC

SSSS

SSSC

SCSC

0.1

HSDT [5]
FSDT [5]
CLPT [5]
LW3D (present)
LW3D (Winkler)a
LW3D (Pasternak)b
LW3D (present)
LW3D (Winkler)a
LW3D (Pasternak)b
LW3D (present)
LW3D (Winkler)a
LW3D (Pasternak)b
LW3D (present)
LW3D (Winkler)a
LW3D (Pasternak)b

4.940
4.851
5.425
4.7662
14.8336
24.7203
3.4867
6.2206
9.9070
2.4279
2.9576
3.6722
1.5239
1.7272
1.8916

5.442
5.351
6.003
5.2781
15.3456
27.4407
3.8900
7.1285
10.6712
2.7430
3.3563
4.0222
1.7617
1.9444
2.0907

6.274
6.166
6.968
6.0917
16.1608
27.7657
4.4636
7.1423
10.6731
3.1121
3.3583
4.0225
1.7627
1.9448
2.0908

11.562
11.353
12.957
11.2560
19.2940
31.3206
8.0732
9.1339
12.2270
4.0104
4.2103
4.7505
2.2692
2.3999
2.5072

17.133
16.437
21.116
16.1480
20.4570
32.6087
8.8744
9.1648
12.2333
4.0171
4.2147
4.7515
2.2713
2.4007
2.5075

21.464
20.067
31.280
19.5762
22.0212
34.2170
8.9584
9.1968
12.2398
4.0240
4.2192
4.7525
2.2734
2.4014
2.5078

0.2

0.3

0.4

a
b

Winkler model: dk 100, dg 0.

Pasternak model: dk 100, dg 10, mesh: 3  3  2.

A.R. Setoodeh, G. Karami / Engineering Structures 26 (2004) 211220

Table 9
Comparison of uniaxial buckling load factor K for a simply supported square (0/90) laminate based on dierent plate theories (a 1,
a=h 10, material 1)
Method

E 1 =E 2 40

E 1 =E 2 30

E 1 =E 2 20

Noor [3]
HSDT [5]
FDST [5]
CLPT [5]
Present a
Present b
Present c
Present d

10.817
11.563
11.353
12.957
11.2560
11.2382
19.3401
31.5981

9.3746
9.8695
9.7347
10.891
9.7156
9.6995
17.5249
29.7616

7.8196
8.1151
8.0423
8.8158
8.0696
8.0455
15.3245
27.5347

a
b
c
d

shape function matrices are dependent on the types of

the selected elements. If [G0] and [Z0] are null matrices
with (1np) and (1p) dimension, respectively, then
matrix [G] is dened as follows,
2  T
w
6 ;r
6
T
6 Z0

G r
6
6.
6 ..
4
Z0
T
r x;y
2 T
w

6 Z
T
6 0
Gz
6 .
4 ..

Mesh: 3  3  2.
Mesh: 4  4  2.
Winkler model: dk 100, dg 0, mesh: 3  3  2.
Pasternak model: dk 100, dg 10, mesh: 3  3  2.

219

Z0
T

Z 0
T
 T
w;r
..
.
Z 0

Z0
T

7
7
Z0
T 7
7
7
..
7
.
5
 T
w;r
nnp
A:4

Z0

w
T
..
.

Z0
T

Z 0

Z 0
T 7
7
7
..
5
.
w
T

A:5

well as the natural frequency analysis of symmetric and

antisymmetric thick composite plates under mixed edge
boundary conditions. To verify the formulation and
the coding, the results were compared with those of
other theories. The results were in good agreement with
those of 3-D elasticity solutions. The presented LW3D
is capable of accurately describing the three-dimensional eects, such as transverse shear and normal
strains and geometric discontinuities at the free edges
or at the point supports. Also, the capabilities of the
method for the analysis of thick plates under dierent
geometries (boundary conditions and lay-outs), for inplane as well as out-of-plane deformations are the
strength of this ecient method.

2 T 
U Gx
6 UT G 
6h
y
6 T i
6 U Gz
6 ;z
6
6 G0

6
6
G
6 G0

6
6 G0

6
6
6 G0

6
6 G0

4
G0

Appendix A.

The bending (b) and shearing (s) parts of strain vector

are expressed in terms of displacement components as,

If H represents the partial derivatives of displacement eld with respect to the global coordinates and D
as the vector of displacement components as dened in
Section 2.3, then,
T
fHg u1; x u1; y u1; z u2; x u2; y u2; z u3; x u3; y u3; z

A:1

G 0

G 0

nnp

G0

G0

G 0

 T 
U G
 T x
hU Gy i
UT;z Gz
G 0

G 0

G 0

7
7
7
7
G0

7
7
7
G0

7
7
G0

7
7
7
G0

 T 7
7
U G
 T x 7
7
7
hU Gy i 5
T
U;z Gz

A:6

feb g Hb
fHg and fes g Hs
fHg
2

A:7
3

1 0

0 0

60 0
6
Hb
6
40 0

0
0

0
0

1 0
0 0

0
0

0
0

07
7
7
15

0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
Hs

0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0

A:8

T
fDg u11 upn v11 vpn w11 wpn
13np

A:2
Employing the displacement eld (9), and after the
evaluation of the partial derivatives with respect to global coordinates, the matrix H can be written as the
product of two matrices [G] and D
, i.e.
fHg9
1 G
93np D
3np1

In order to derive the stiness matrices, rst we have

to nd the variation of the strain vectors in Eq. (A.7).
Substituting the resulted relations in the expression for
internal virtual work (Eq. (2)) and using the constitutive law (3), the stiness matrix is developed.
fdeb g Hb
fdHg Hb
GgfdDg Bb
fdDg

A:9

A:3

The elements of [G] can be expressed in terms of shape

functions Wi(x,y) and Uj(z). The dimensions of the

fdeb gT fdDgT Bb
T

A:10

220

A.R. Setoodeh, G. Karami / Engineering Structures 26 (2004) 211220

fdeb g frb gdV fdDg

v

Kb


Bb
Cb
Bb
dV fdDg
T

Bb
Cb
Bb
dV

A:11

2  11 
K
6  12 T
K
4 K
 13 T
K





K 12
K 22
K


23 T

K 13

3

7
K 23 5
 33 
K
3np3np

A:12

The procedure for developing the shear stiness matrix

is similar. The elements of the stiness matrices are,




Kb11 GxT UUT D11 Gx D16 Gy GyT UUT D16 Gx D66 Gy




Kb12 GxT UUT D12 Gy D16 Gx GyT UUT D26 Gy D66 Gx




Kb22 GyT UUT D22 Gy D26 Gx GxT UUT D26 Gy D66 Gx


Kb13 D13 GxT D36 GyT UUT;z Gz


Kb23 D23 GyT D36 GxT UUT;z Gz
Kb33 D33 GzT U;z UT;z Gz
A:13

Ks11 D55 GzT U;z UT;z Gz

Ks12 D45 GzT U;z UT;z Gz
Ks22 D44 GzT U;z UT;z Gz


Ks13 GzT U;z UT D45 Gy D55 Gx


Ks23 GzT U;z UT D44 Gy D45 Gx



Ks33 GyT UUT D44 Gy D45 Gx GxT UUT D45 Gy D55 Gx :
A:14

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