Dynamic instability of laminated sandwich plates using an efficient finite element model

For the first time, the dynamic instability of laminated sandwich plates subjected to in-plane edge loading is studied using an efficient finite element plate model, which is developed recently by the authors. The plate model is based on a refined higher order shear deformation plate theory. In this theory, the transverse shear stresses are continuous at the layer interfaces with stress free conditions at plate top and bottom surfaces. It is interesting to note that the plate model having all these refined features requires unknowns at the reference plane only. However, this theory requires C1 continuity of transverse displacement at the element edges, which is difficult to satisfy arbitrarily in any existing finite element. To deal with this, a new triangular element developed by the authors is used in the present paper.