Bending analysis of anti-symmetric cross-ply laminated plates under nonlinear thermal and mechanical loadings

The present paper addresses a refined plate theoryin order to describe the response of anti-symmetric cross-ply laminated plates subjected to a uniformlydistributed nonlinear thermo-mechanical loading. In the present theory, the undetermined integral terms are used and the variables number is reduced to four instead of five or more in other higher-order theories. The boundary conditions on the top and the bottom surfaces of the plate are satisfied; hence the use of the transverse shear correction factors isavoided. The principle of virtual work is used to obtain governing equations and boundary conditions. Navier solution for simply supported plates is used to derive analytical solutions. For the validation of the present theory, numerical results for displacements and stressesare compared with those of classical, first-order, higher-order and trigonometricshear theories reported in the literature.