Analysis of laminated composite plates based on THB-RKPM method using the higher-order shear deformation plate theory

In the present investigation, static free vibration and buckling response of laminated composite plates based on coupling of Truncated Hierarchical B-splines (THBsplines) with Reproducing Kernel Particle Method (RKPM) through higher-order shear deformation plate theory are presented. The coupled THB-RKPM method blends the advantages of the isogeometric analysis and meshfree methods. Since under certain conditions, the isogeometric B-spline and NURBS basis functions are exactly represented by reproducing kernel meshfree shape functions, recursive process of producing isogeometric bases can be omitted. More importantly, a seamless link between meshfree methods and isogeometric analysis can easily be dened, which provides an authentic meshfree approach to rening the model locally in isogeometric analysis. This procedure can be carried out using truncated hierarchical B-splines to construct new bases and adaptively rene them. It is shown that the THB-RKPM method is ideally appropriate for local renement of laminated composite plates in the framework of isogeometric analysis. The exibility of the proposed method for rening basis functions leads to decrease in the computational cost without losing the accuracy of the solution. Numerical examples considering different boundary conditions and various aspect ratios, stiness ratios, and ber orientations demonstrated validity and versatility of the proposed method.