A NOVEL HIGHER ORDER SHEAR AND NORMAL DEFORMATION THEORY BASED ON NEUTRAL SURFACE POSITION FOR BENDING ANALYSIS OF ADVANCED COMPOSITE PLATES

In this paper, a new trigonometric higher-order theory including the stretching effect is developed for the static analysis of advanced composite plates such as functionally graded plates. The number of unknown functions involved in the present theory is only five as against six or more in case of other shear and normal deformation theories. The governing equations are derived by employing the principle of virtual work and the physical neutral surface concept. There is no stretching–bending coupling effect in the neutral surface-based formulation, and consequently, the governing equations and boundary conditions of functionally graded plates based on neutral surface have the simple forms as those of isotropic plates. Navier-type analytical solution is obtained for functionally graded plate subjected to transverse load for simply supported boundary conditions. A comparison with the corresponding results is made to check the accuracy and efficiency of the present theory.