Bending of bimodulus laminated plates according to a new plate theory

The flexural displacements of rectangular simply supported composite bimodulus plates are presented in this paper. The governing equations used in the present analysis are based on a new plate theory with seven kinematic variables. This special displacement field satisfies the stress-free boundary conditions. All the present numerical results are compared with the previous results from the eleven kinematic variables higher-order plate theory. From these comparisons it can be concluded that the accuracy of the present plate theory is better than that of the Mindlin plate theory and approximately the same as that of the eleven variables plate theory. Also, the significant simplification of the present theory over the eleven variables theory can be observed, and this advantage is useful in future finite element analysis.