An accurate four-node shear flexible composite plate element

An e$cient and accurate four node shear #exible composite laminated plate element with six degrees of freedom per node, viz. three displacement (u, v,w) along the x-, y- and z-axis, two rotations (hx and hy) about y- and x-axis and twist (hxy) is proposed in this paper. A coupled displacement "eld is derived using moment}shear equilibrium and in-plane equilibrium of composite strips along the x- and y-axis. The displacement "eld so derived not only depends on the element co-ordinates but is a function of extensional, bending}extensional coupling, bending and transverse shear sti!nesses as well. The element assumes bi-cubic polynomial distribution with sixteen generalized undetermined coe$cients for the transverse displacement. The element sti!ness matrix and load vector are computed numerically by employing 3]3 Gauss}Legendre product rules. The element is found to be devoid of shear locking and does not exhibit any spurious modes. A series of numerical examples are solved to demonstrate the e$cacy of the proposed element. Further, the element is found to yield consistently accurate results even with coarse mesh sizes over a wide range of thick plate regimes