Region-by-region modeling of laminated composite plates

Several plate models have been proposed in the literature for the analysis of laminated plates. These are based either on an equivalent through-thickness formulation or a layerwise formulation. It is shown in the literature that while the equivalent models are economical, the layerwise models are expensive but are also more accurate, especially with respect to the transverse stresses. Generally, the same model is used throughout the domain. The current study addresses the issue of economical and accurate computation of local stresses, strains and displacements (as well as global quantities) using combinations of layerwise, equivalent or intermediate models in various regions of the domain. A region-by-region modeling strategy is presented for a chosen general family of equivalent, intermediate and layerwise models. The proposed strategy allows the user to put any model (of any order in the thickness direction) in any desired region of interest. The effectiveness of the strategy is demonstrated through numerical examples. It is shown that this approach can significantly reduce computational cost and can also lead to good resolution of the local stress and displacement fields for domains with unsymmetric laminae, cut-outs, local damage, corner edges, sudden transition of boundary conditions and material.