Cylindrical bending of angle-ply laminates subjected to different sets of edge boundary conditions

This paper extends the applicability of a new stress analysis method towards the accurate determination of the detailed stress distributions in angle-ply laminated plates subjected to cylindrical bending. As far as simply supported plates are concerned, this problem has an exact elasticity solution. Here however a simpler, two- dimensional, shear deformable, plate model is employed which, accompanied with an appropriate set of through- thickness shape functions, makes the new stress analysis method very accurate. Hence, the existing exact elasticity solution is used only for a further veri®cation of the reliability of the new method, which is then used for a more detailed stress analysis study of certain monoclinic and angle-ply laminated plates subjected to realistic edge boundary conditions. It is also shown that the corresponding stress analysis of cross-ply laminated plates subjected to cylindrical bending is a particular case of the present analysis.