Theory of unsymmetric laminated plates

Abstract

Timoshenko’s shear correction factor for an unsymmetric laminated plate is derived rigorously from a formulation involving the theory of elasticity. This approach includes the effect of nonlinear in−plane displacements and emphasizes the effect of shear deformation. As a consequence of the derivation, physically meaningful quantities including the neutral axis, mean elastic constant, and bending rigidity of a composite plate are obtained. After substituting these quantities into the homogeneous plate equation, which includes the transverse shear developed by Reissner and Mindlin, it is applied directly to unsymmetric laminates.