Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 42 (2006) 821 836

www.elsevier.com/locate/nel

Transient response of initially stressed composite sandwich plates

A.K. Nayak, R.A. Shenoi , S.S.J. Moy
School of Engineering Science, University of Southampton, Higheld, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
Received 8 March 2004; received in revised form 8 April 2005; accepted 21 August 2005
Available online 3 March 2006

Abstract
This paper deals with the transient response of initially stressed composite sandwich plates under time dependent sine, step, triangular and
explosive blast loadings. Formulations for a family of assumed strain nite element formulations are developed on the basis of the rst-order
shear deformation theory with a priori shear correction factors. The developed nite elements contain three displacements and two rotations of
the normals about the plates mid-plane. The terms in the energy formulation are integrated exactly using a full integration scheme. The mass
matrix adopted here is consistent in nature. The Newmark scheme is used to integrate the governing equations of motion. The accuracy and
reliability of the present nite element formulation is veried with previously published results in the literature. New results are presented to
examine the effects of alternative loadings, boundary conditions and plate geometries.
2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Transient analysis; Finite element method; Assumed strain concept; Initially stressed composite sandwich plates

1. Introduction
Transient analysis of initially stressed composite sandwich
plates entails accurate determination of responses under time
dependent loads. In order to investigate such composite sandwich plate problems, various analytical techniques [14] are
available. These analytical techniques are used to form a basis for the development of other approximate methods such
as nite element method [57] for a wide variety of practical
problems. Three-dimensional analysis methods are used to simulate composite sandwich panels adequately, at very high computational costs. Two-dimensional analysis can be grouped as
equivalent single layer, layerwise or zig-zag theories. The single layer theories can be classied as the classical laminated
plate theory (CLPT) based on the KirchhoffLove hypothesis,
the rst-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT) based on
the ReissnerMindlin assumption and the higher-order shear
deformation plate theory (HSDT) based on the expansion of
the displacement eld in the higher powers of the thickness coordinates. In the layerwise theories, the parameters associated
with the governing equations increase with the increase of the
Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 23 80 593256; fax: +44 23 80 593299.

E-mail address: r.a.shenoi@ship.soton.ac.uk (R.A. Shenoi).

0168-874X/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.nel.2005.08.008

number of layers in the laminate. Zig-zag theories produce

the transverse shear stress continuity at interfaces a priori and
provide a compromise between the continuum theory, the single
layer theories and the layerwise theories. Another approach to
model laminate is the mixed/hybrid model in which the multiple
independent variables such as displacements, strains, stresses
are used to develop the generalized variational principles.
Reismann and Tendorf [8] analyzed the transient response
of an isotropic plate under initial membrane stresses using the
Mindlin plate theory. A square plate with simply supported
edges is subjected to a specied, time-dependent transverse step
load over a central square sub-region. It is found that compressive and tensile stresses inuence the plate responses. To the
best of our knowledge, three-dimensional elasticity results are
not available for the transient analysis of initially stressed laminated composite and sandwich panels. Meimaris and Day [9]
proposed a twenty node, isoparametric, parabolic, solid nite
element to analyse dynamic response of laminated anisotropic
plates. It is shown that boundary conditions used to model
laminated plates must be chosen carefully. In cases where
the plate is isotropic, orthotropic or of symmetric ply lay-up,
both simple and hinged supports give identical results. Biaxial
symmetry can be used in these cases. Antisymmetric cross-ply
laminates also possess biaxial symmetry, although fundamental

822

A.K. Nayak et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 42 (2006) 821 836

frequencies obtained for simple supports are lower than for

hinged supports. Antisymmetric angle ply laminates with ply
lay-up of the form [
,
,
,
, . . .] cannot in general be modelled using biaxial symmetry. Khdeir and Reddy [10] investigated the dynamic response of symmetric cross-ply laminated
composite plates by solving the equation of a higher-order shear
deformation theory by using the methods of the orthogonality
of principal modes and the state variables techniques. Rectangular, triangular, exponential, and sinusoidal pulse loadings are
considered. A comparison of the dynamic response predicted
by the classical (the KichhoffLove hypothesis), rst-order (the
Mindlin plate theory) and third-order theories is presented to
illustrate the effect of shear deformation in the analysis. It is
shown that the transient response predicted by the classical plate
theory is signicantly different from that predicted by the rstorder and higher-order theories for thick laminated plates. As
the thickness increases, the difference between the central deections predicted by various theories also increases, although
the rst-order and higher-order theories give solutions that are
fairly close. It is to be noted that the analytical results obtained
from the works of Khdeir and Reddy [10] are called exact solutions to date in the absence of three-dimensional elasticity
solution for laminated composite plates. Chen and Sun [11]
modelled laminated plates under initial deformation and initial
stress using a nine-node isoparametric quadrilateral nite element according to the Mindlin plate theory and von Karman
large deection assumptions. It is found that the effect of initial stresses becomes less pronounced for larger external loads.
A larger external load yields a larger deection which, in turn,
may enhance the bending rigidity to the extent comparable
to the effect of the initial stress. As a result, the effect on
the bending rigidity due to initial stresses becomes less dominant. Rao [12] evaluated buckling coefcients of a simply
supported rectangular symmetrical anisotropic sandwich plate
under combined longitudinal compression and bending using
the RayleighRitz method. It is found that the multi-ply-faced
orthotropic sandwich plate is stronger than a single-ply-faced
anisotropic one and that the maximum longitudinal buckling
strength occurs in plates with lower aspect ratios when the reinforcing bres are longitudinal and in plates of higher aspect ratios when the bres are oriented at about 40 with respect to the
longitudinal axis. Khatua and Cheung [1315] developed nonconforming rectangular and triangular plate bending elements
to analyse static, free vibration and buckling response of sandwich panels with soft cores. More recently Nayak et al. [16]
formulated two triangular multi-layered plate nite elements
to determine the natural frequencies and modal loss factors of
visco-elastically damped sandwich plates. The plate elements
DKT/CST and DKT/LST are developed by combining the three
noded Discrete Kirchhoff Theory (DKT) triangular plate bending element, the three noded constant strain triangle (CST) and
the six noded linear strain triangle (LST). Explicit formulations
are used for the membrane, bending and membrane-bending
coupling stiffness matrices for efcient computing. Vlachoutsis [17] discussed a study on shear correction factors by energy
considerations for laminated and sandwich panels. A threedimensional degenerated shell nite element model is used to

analyse multilayered plates and shells. Noor et al. [6] used predictor and corrector method to calculate shear correction factors
to analyse static and dynamic behaviour of laminated composite and sandwich panels. Jiang and Liao [18] analyzed transient
response of laminated composite plates by employing a mixed
nite element formulation. Polit and Touratier [19] employed a
six node triangular nite element to model both thin and moderately thick sandwich plates. The formulation is based on a
kind of kinematics proposed by Touratier, and built on the Argyris interpolation for bending and the Ganev interpolation for
membrane displacements and transverse shear rotations. The
shear correction factors are not required due to the representation of the transverse shear strains by cosine functions. Moita
et al. [20] proposed an eight node shear deformable plate bending element based on a discrete higher-order displacement theory for buckling and dynamic behaviour of laminated composite structures. More recently Nayak et al. [2129] formulated
a family of assumed strain plate bending elements based on a
rened third-order theory to analyse bending, vibration, buckling, transient and damping of isotropic, laminated composite
and sandwich plates. A four node element is developed on the
basis of assumed strain interpolation scheme given by Bathe
and Dvorkin [30] and a nine node element is formulated by the
interpolation scheme given by Huang and Hinton [31], Aljanabi et al. [32] and Hinton and Huang [33,34]. Belytschko and
Tsay [35] utilized a stabilization procedure via the Hu-Washizu
three eld variational principle for a four node quadrilateral
plate element with one-point quadrature. Later on Belytschko
et al. [36] extended the principle [35] to a nine node Lagrange
element for Mindlin plate equations. Details of various nite
element formulations based on several theories can be found in
Refs. [17,37].
From a literature review, apart from Ref. [11] which dealt
with laminated plates, very few attempts have been made to
analyse transient response of initially stressed composite sandwich plates. In this paper, a new nite element model based
on the rst-order shear deformation theory with a priori shear
correction factors is developed to study the small deection
dynamic response of composite sandwich plates under the inuence of initial stresses which frequently arise in practice due
to the manufacturing processes and assembly techniques. Since
no result is available on this subject in the literature, various
parametric studies concerning the effects of alternative loadings, boundary conditions and plate geometries on the transient
response are carried out.
2. Formulation of the problem
The displacement eld of the rst-order shear deformation
plate theory is given as
u = u0 + z ,

w = w0 ,

(1)

where the superscript zero denotes the middle surface displacements;  are the rotations about the  axes; h is the thickness
of the plate; Greek subscripts range on x and y; u are the displacements of a point in the  axes; and w is the displacement
in the z direction.

A.K. Nayak et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 42 (2006) 821 836

The strain-displacement relations are obtained from Eq. (1)

which can be stated as
 = 0 + z0 ,

0 = 21 (u0, + u0, ),

0 = 21 (0, + 0, ),

s = 2z = w, +  ,

(2)

where a comma denotes partial differentiation and repeated

indices imply summation.
The stressstrain relationships for the lamina in the laminate
coordinates (x, y, z) are given by
xx = Q11 xx + Q12 yy + 2Q16 xy ,
yy = Q12 xx + Q22 yy + 2Q26 xy ,
xy = Q16 xx + Q26 yy + 2Q66 xy ,
xz = 2Q55 xz + 2Q54 yz ,

yz = 2Q45 xz + 2Q44 yz ,

(3)

where Qij are the transformed, plane stress reduced stiffness

coefcients, which is given as,
Q11 = Q11 c4 + 2(Q12 + 2Q66 )c2 s 2 + Q22 s 4 ,

823

The governing equations of motion from Eqs. (1)(5), can

be stated as:

t

(xx
xx + yy
yy + xy
xy + yz
yz
0 V

t

+ xz
xz ) dV dt +
(q
w 0 ) dx dy dt
0 A

t

T
+
[G] [N ][G] dx dy dt
0 A

t

=
(ux
ux + uy
uy + w
w)

dV dt,
(6)
0

where V is the volume, A is the cross sectional area, (x, y, z)

is the density of the plate, q is the transverse load applied at
0 , w 0 ]T and [N ] is a
the top surface of the plate, [G] = [w,x
,y
matrix containing the inplane edge loads. Using Eqs. (1)(5) in
Eq. (6), the following equations of motion are obtained:
Nxx,x + Nxy,y = I1 u0x + I2 x ,
Nxy,x + Nyy,y = I1 u0y + I2 y ,
0
Qxz,x + Qyz,y + q + N xx w,xx

0
0
+ 2N xy w,xy
+ N yy w,yy
= I1 w0 ,

Q12 = (Q11 + Q22 4Q66 )c2 s 2 + Q12 (c4 + s 4 ),

Q16 = (Q11 c2 + (Q12 + 2Q66 )(s 2 c2 ) Q22 s 2 )cs,

Mxx,x + Mxy,y Qxz = I2 u0x + I3 x ,

Q22 = Q11 s 4 + 2(Q12 + 2Q66 )c2 s 2 + Q22 c4 ,

Mxy,x + Myy,y Qyz = I2 u0y + I3 y .

Q26 = (Q11 s 2 + (Q12 + 2Q66 )(c2 s 2 ) Q22 c2 )cs,

The various stress resultants are given by:

Q66 = (Q11 + Q22 2Q12 )c2 s 2 + Q66 (c2 s 2 )2 ,

N = [A]0 + [B]0 ,

M = [B]0 + [D]0 ,

Q = [A]s s ,

Q44 = Q44 c + Q55 s ,

2

(7)

(8)

where
Q45 = (Q55 Q44 )cs,

N = (Nxx Nyy Nxy )T ,

Q55 = Q55 c + Q44 s ,

2

(4)

where [Qij ]k is the constitutive matrix at the lamina level;

c = cos
; s = sin
;
is the angle between the lamina x-axis
and lamina principal xi axis. The reduced stiffness components,
Qij , are stated as

Q66 = GLT ,

Q55 = GLZ ,

Q44 = GT Z ,

Q = (Qxx Qyy )T ,
(Aij , Bij , Dij ) =

N


k=1

(Asij ) =

ELL
Q11 =
,
1 LT T L
LT ET T
T L ELL
Q12 = Q21 =
=
,
1 LT T L
1 LT T L
ET T
,
Q22 =
1 LT T L

M = (Mxx Myy Mxy )T ,

N



zk

k=1 zk1

zk

(Qij )k (1, z, z2 ) dz

(i, j =1, 2, 6),

(i, j = 5, 4),

(9)

zk1

Kij2 (Qij )k dz

where Kij2 are the shear correction factors. In the present analysis, the shear correction factors are calculated on the basis of the
transverse shear strain energy [17]. The inertias Ii (i = 1, 2, 3)
are dened by
(5)

where Eii (i = L, T ) are the Youngs moduli of the composite material, GLT , GLZ and GT Z are the shear moduli of the
composite material and LT and T L are the Poissons ratios.

(I1 , I2 , I3 ) =

N


k=1

zk
zk1

k (1, z, z2 ) dz.

In Eq. (7), N xx , N yy , N xy denote the applied edge loads.

(10)

824

A.K. Nayak et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 42 (2006) 821 836

Using Eqs. (7)(10), the principle of virtual work equation

can be obtained in the following form

t

(
0 [A]0 +
0 [B]0 +
0 [B]0
0 A

t

0 T
0
sT s s
+
 [D] +
 [A ] ) dA dt +
q
w 0 dA dt
0 A

t

+
[G]T [N][G] dA dt
0 A

t

=
[I1 (u0x
u0x + u0y
u0y + w0
w 0 )
0

+ I2 (x
u0x + y
u0y + u0x
x + u0y
y )
+ I3 (x
x + y
y )] dA dt.

(11)

3. Finite element approximation

Two new four and nine node isoparametric quadrilateral
displacement nite elements are developed based on a rstorder shear deformation theory as discussed in the previous
section. Each element e has n nodes, where each node
i(i = 1, . . . , n) is identied with ve degrees of freedom
i
i
i
0i
0i
U(e)
= (u0i
x , uy , w , x , y )(e) . The element displacement
function approximations can be expressed as:
u0x =

n


Ni u0i
x ,

u0y =

i=1

x =

n


n


Ni u0i
y ,

w0 =

i=1

Ni ix ,

y =

i=1

n


n


Ni w 0i ,

i=1

Ni iy ,

(12)

i=1

where Ni , i = 1, . . . , n, are the interpolation functions. The

shape functions Ni for an element are functions of the two reference variables and . Knowing the generalized displacement vector (U(e) = [N](e) {
}(e) ) at all points within the element e, the generalized mid-surface strains at any point in the
element e from Eq. (2) can be expressed in terms of nodal
displacements as follows:


0(e)

= [B ] {
}(e) ,
s(e) = [Bs ](e) {
}(e) ,

(13)

where [B0 ], [B0 ] and [Bs ] are the generated strain-displacement

matrices.
The strain-displacement matrix in the generalized form is
given as
[B ]


0 (e)

N1,x
0
N1,y

0
N1,y
N1,x

0
0
0

0
0
0

[Bs ](e)

0 0
=
0 0

N1,x
N1,y

0
0
0

0
0
0

. . . Nn,x
...
0
. . . Nn,y

0
Nn,y
Nn,x

0
0
0

0
0
0

0
0 ,
0
(14a)

N1,x
0
N1,y

N1
0

0
N1,y
N1,x

... 0
... 0
... 0

0
0
0

0
0
0

0
N1

... 0
... 0

0
0

Nn,x
Nn,y

Nn,x
0
Nn,y

Nn
0


0
Nn,y ,
Nn,x
(14b)

0
.
Nn
(14c)

One basic problem inherent in the use of standard interpolation of the strains for the transverse shear components is that
the element locks when it is thin. The reason for this locking is
that the element, when loaded in pure bending, will exhibit spurious transverse shear energy. In order to overcome the shear
locking and spurious zero energy modes, Bathe and Dvorkin
[30] and Huang and Hinton [31] proposed assumed interpolations for the transverse shear strain to develop four node and
nine node assumed strain plate bending elements, respectively.
In the present analysis, the above formulations are used to derive two new C0 four and nine node rst order assumed strain
plate bending elements.
The transverse shear strains should vanish in a thin plate
situation due to the KirchhoffLove hypothesis. Hence in the
x.y and . coordinate systems, the following relations hold
good
0
0
s = (0xz , 0yz )T = (w,x
+ x , w,y
+ y )T . . . . > 0,

(15)

(s  , s )T = (w,0 +  , w,0 +  )T . . . . > 0.

(16)

In the development of four node and nine node elements, the

polynomial terms w,0 and  and for w,0 and  do not match.
Hence the substitute shear strain elds are chosen as follows:
For the four node element [30,33]:
s  =

s =

0 (e)

0(e) = [B0 ](e) {

}(e) ,

[B0 ](e)

0 0
= 0 0
0 0

2
1 

i=1 j =1
1
2 

i=1 j =1

sij

(17)

sj i

(18)

Pi ( )Qj ()  ,

Qi ( )Pj () ,

where
Q1 (z) = (1 + z)/2, Q2 (z) = (1 z)/2,
P1 (z) = 1 (z = , ).
For the nine node element [31,33]:
s  =

s =

3
2 

i=1 j =1
2
3 

i=1 j =1

sij

(19)

sj i

(20)

Pi ( )Qj ()  ,

Qi ( )Pj () ,

A.K. Nayak et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 42 (2006) 821 836

825

transformation. For further details see Bathe and Dvorkin [30]

for four node element and Huang and Hinton [31] for nine node
element.
For implementation purposes, s in Eq. (13) is replaced by
s
 where s is the substitute shear strains to remove spurious
zero energy modes. Hence the substitute transverse shear strain
s is given by

s(e) = [B  ](e) {
}(e) ,

(24)

(a)

where [B  ](e) is the substitute strain displacement matrix.

For arbitrary values of virtual displacements, the global dynamic equation can be formed from Eq. (11) as

(b)

Fig. 1. Sampling positions for shear interpolation in the four node assumed
sij
sij
strain plate bending element: (a)   ; (b)  .

a
8

1
(a)

a
9

[Kg ] =

Q2 (z) = (1z2 ),

P1 (z) = (1 + z/a)/2,
sij

Q3 (z) = z(z1)/2,

P2 (z) = (1 z/a)/2

(z = , )

sj i

in which a = 0.577,   and  are the mn unknown substitute shear strain parameters associated with two sets of m n
sampling points ( i , j ) and ( j , i ) (see Figs. 1 and 2 for location of sampling points).
In order to eliminate locking, the following equations are
obtained [33]
s  ( i , j ) = s  ( i , j ) (i = 1, . . ., m; j = 1, . . . , n),

(21)

s ( j , i ) = s ( j , i ) (i = 1, . . . , n; j = 1, . . . , m). (22)

It is possible to write
 0 

,
s = xz
0yz

(23)

where 0xz and 0yz are obtained from   s and  s given by Eqs.
(17) and (18), respectively, for four node element and by Eqs.
(19) and (20), respectively, for nine node element, by tensor

sT

{F } =

(26)
(27)

Ae



[X]T [N ][X] dA,

(28)

Ae



e

where

+ B [B]B0 + B0 [D]B0 + B  [As ]B  ] dA,



[M] =
N T MI N dA,

Fig. 2. Sampling positions for shear interpolation in the nine node assumed
sij
sij
strain plate bending element: (a)   ; (b)  .

Q1 (z) = z(1+z)/2,

Ae

0T

(b)

(25)

Here the unknown vector {} is generated by the assemblage

of element degrees of freedom {d}Te , e = 1, . . ., total degrees
of freedom in the region R. b denotes the buckling parameter
(a function of the applied loads N xx , N yy or N xy ). The assembled stiffness, mass, buckling and force matrices for dynamic
analysis are


T
T
[B0 [A]B0 + B0 [B]B0
[K] =
e

3
a=0.577

+ [K]{} = {F } + b [Kg ]{}.

[M]{}

[N ]T {q} dA,

(29)

Ae

where [X] = [jN/jx, jN/jy]T , [MI ] is the mass matrix containing inertia terms and {F } is the column vector containing
the boundary and body force contributions.
The elements of MI can be given as

I 1 0 0 I2 0
0 I1 0 0 I2

(30)
[MI ] = 0 0 I1 0 0 .

I2 0 0 I3 0
0 I2 0 0 I3
The 33 and 22 GaussLegendre rules (i.e. full integration
scheme) are employed to integrate bending, membrane, shear
and inertia terms in the energy expressions for the nine node
element and the four node element, respectively. The Newmark
direct integration method [11,26,27] is employed to integrate
the terms in the energy expression. The parameters used in
the Newmark integration scheme correspond to the constant
average acceleration method.
4. Numerical examples
This section presents some numerical results using the
new four node (FSDTF4) and nine node (FSDTF9) assumed

A.K. Nayak et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 42 (2006) 821 836
2

0.03

1.8

0.029

1.6

0.028

1.4

0.027

1.2

0.026

xy

central displacement

826

1
Exact-10
Exact-20
Exact-100
FSDTF4-10
FSDTF4-20
FSDTF4-100
FSDTF9-10
FSDTF9-20
FSDTF9-100

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2

Exact-10
Exact-20
Exact-100
FSDTF4-10
FSDTF4-20
FSDTF4-100
FSDTF9-10
FSDTF9-20
FSDTF9-100

0.025
0.024
0.023
0.022
0.021

0.02
3

5
7
Number of layers

(a)

(b)

5
7
Number of layers

Fig. 3. (a) Central displacements w and (b) inplane shear stresses xy in 3, 5, 7 and 9-ply laminated composite plates under sinusoidal loading.
0.5
0.58
0.45

0.56
0.54

0.4
y

0.52
0.5
Exact-10
Exact-20
Exact-100
FSDTF4-10
FSDTF4-20
FSDTF4-100
FSDTF9-10
FSDTF9-20
FSDTF9-100

0.48
0.46
0.44
0.42

0.3

0.4

0.25
3

(a)

Exact-10
Exact-20
Exact-100
FSDTF4-10
FSDTF4-20
FSDTF4-100
FSDTF9-10
FSDTF9-20
FSDTF9-100

0.35

5
7
Number of layers

(b)

5
7
Number of layers

Fig. 4. (a) Inplane stress x and (b) inplane stress y in 3, 5, 7 and 9-ply laminated composite plates under sinusoidal loading.

strain nite elements based on the rst-order shear deformation theory. In the present analysis, the shear correction
factors are calculated from the shear strain energy formulation as mentioned in the works of Vlachoutsis [17]. The
initial set of examples or topics have been selected to val-

idate the developed elements vis-a-vis previously published

analytical and numerical results. After validation of the
proposed elements, transient analyses of initially stressed
composite sandwich plates with varying boundary conditions, time dependent loads such as step, sine, triangular and

A.K. Nayak et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 42 (2006) 821 836

827

Table 1
CPU time in seconds in the static analysis of nine layer cross-ply laminated composite plates (a/ h = 100) under sinusoidal loading
Nodesa per side

Parameter

FSDT models

HSDT models

FSDT4

FSDT9

HSDT4

HSDT9

wexact [38]

1.005

1.005

1.005

1.005

wpresent
Assembly time (s)
Solution time (s)
Total CPU time (s)

1.002 (0.997)b
0.08
0.27
0.35

1.005 (1.000)
0.16
0.27
0.43

1.001 (0.996)
0.25
0.44
0.69

1.004 (0.999)
0.55
0.44
0.99

13

wpresent
Assembly time (s)
Solution time (s)
Total CPU time (s)

1.004 (0.999)
0.17
0.75
0.92

1.005 (1.000)
0.33
0.75
1.08

1.003 (0.998)
0.53
1.09
1.62

1.004 (0.999)
1.26
1.09
2.35

a Quarter plate model.

bValues in the parenthesis indicate normalized results with respect to the exact solution.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Fig. 5. Various mesh patterns in a quarter of a square plate: (a) Mesh I; (b)
Mesh II; (c) Mesh III and (d) Mesh IV.

explosive blast loadings and geometric considerations are

carried out.
4.1. Topic 1: Static analysis of laminated composite plates
This example deals with laminated composite plates under sinusoidal loading [38] for which three dimension results
are available to investigate the numerical accuracy and reliability of present elements (FSDTF4 and FSDTF9). Square
bidirectional laminates of edge dimension a and thickness
h consisting of 3, 5, 7, and 9 layers are under the surface
loading q = q0 sin(x/a) sin(y/a) (0
x
a, 0
y
a,
h/2
z
h/2) where q0 is a constant. Each layer is a unidirectional bre reinforced composite possessing the following
engineering constants: EL = 25 106 , ET = 106 , GLT = 0.5
106 , GT T = 0.2 106 , LT = T T = 0.25: note the units are

consistent. All laminates are symmetric with respect to the

central plane, with bre orientations alternating between 0
and 90 with respect to the x axis, and the 0 layers are at the
outer surfaces of the laminate. The total thickness of the 0
and 90 layers are the same, whereas layers at the same orientation have equal thickness. A mesh of 21 nodes per side in a
quarter plate model is adopted. The results for ((x , y , xy ) =
(1/q0 S 2 )(x , y , xy ), (w = 4 Qw/12S 4 hq 0 ), S = a/ h, Q =
4GLT + [EL + ET (1 + 2 T T )]/(1 LT T L )) are presented in
Figs. 3 and 4. The parameters w, x and xy are determined at
(a/2, a/2, 0), (a/2, a/2, h/2) and (0, 0, h/2), respectively, for
all the layers. The parameter y is calculated at (a/2, a/2, h/4),
(a/2, a/2, h/3), (a/2, a/2, 3h/8) and (a/2, a/2, 2h/5) for
3, 5, 7 and 9 ply laminates, respectively. The notations in
Figs. 3 and 4 Exact-10,20,100, FSDTF4-10,20,100 and
FSDTF9-10,20,100 stand for the solutions for plates with
a/ h = 10,20 and 100 from the exact solution, the four node
(FSDTF4) formulation and the nine node (FSDTF9) formulation, respectively. As seen from Fig. 3(a), the results for the
central displacement w for a/ h = 10, 20 and 100 for 3, 5, 7
and 9 layers are in good agreement with exact results [38].
From Figs. 3(b), 4(a) and (b), it is seen that the results for
xy , x and y are in good agreement with exact results [38]
for a/ h = 100 though showing increasing deviation from thinner (a/ h = 100) to thicker plates (a/ h = 10). The accuracy
of results for stresses could be improved by implementing
predictorcorrector approaches suggested in Noor et al. [6] for
thick laminates with a/ h less than 20. We chose to utilise the
present rst-order shear deformation model towards the transient analysis of initially stressed composite sandwich plates
for which no result is available in literature.
In order to assess the efciency of FSDT4 and FSDT9 as
compared to HSDT4 and HSDT9 (4 and 9 node plate bending
elements based on the higher order shear deformation theory
[28]), the problem of nine layer simply supported laminated
composite plates (a/ h = 100) under sinusoidal loading as mentioned previously is undertaken to determine the execution time.
The solution is obtained using a banded equation solving rou-

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A.K. Nayak et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 42 (2006) 821 836
100.2
Exact
FSDTF4-I
FSDTF4-II
FSDTF4-III
FSDTF4-IV
FSDTF9-I
FSDTF9-II
FSDTF9-III
FSDTF9-IV

Central deflection

100.1

100

10-0.1

101

102

103

104

a/h

Fig. 6. Effect of mesh distortion on central deection of a 9-ply laminate.

Table 2
Non-dimensional fundamental frequency  = (core h2 /Q11(core) )1/2 of a simply supported square sandwich (0/core/0) plate
Source

Exact [39]
Makhecha et al. [40]
ABAQUS-S8R [40]
ANSYS-STIF91 [40]
Yuan and Dawe [41]
Polit and Touratier [19]
FSDT4
FSDT9

Modular ratio
1

10

15

0.047419
0.047407
(0.999)a
0.047397
(0.999)
0.047752
(1.007)
0.047619
(1.004)

0.047599
(1.003)
0.047408
(0.999)

0.057041
0.057027
(0.999)
0.057311
(1.005)
0.057731
(1.012)
0.057220
(1.003)

0.057251
(1.004)
0.057026
(0.999)

0.077148
0.077139
(0.999)
0.079578
(1.031)
0.080143
(1.039)
0.077300
(1.002)
0.07714
(0.999)
0.077419
(1.003)
0.077129
(0.999)

0.098104
0.098096
(0.999)
0.106485
(1.085)
0.107226
(1.093)
0.098250
(1.001)
0.09810
(0.999)
0.098409
(1.003)
0.098063
(0.999)

0.112034
0.112029
(0.999)
0.127743
(1.140)
0.128623
(1.148)
0.112157
(1.001)
0.11202
(0.999)
0.112341
(1.003)
0.111968
(0.999)

a Values in the parenthesis indicate normalized results with respect to the exact solution.

tine. The results for the central deection (w=4 Qw/12S 4 hq 0 )

from FSDT4, FSDT9, HSDT4 and HSDT9 from mesh densities 9 and 13 nodes per side in a quarter plate model are shown
in Table 1. It is observed that less computational time is required to solve nite element models based on the rst-order
shear deformation theories than that of higher-order shear deformation models due to the reduced number of unknowns in
a nite element mesh.

Distortion sensitivity is one of the most important properties in an elements evaluation. In order to investigate the accuracy of the present elements in non-rectangular congurations, the distorted meshes (IIV) in a quarter of plate as shown
in Figs. 5(a)(d), respectively, are used to analyse a simply
supported 9-ply laminate under sinusoidal load. The results
are reported in Fig. 6. The notations (FSDTF4-I,II,III,IV) and
(FSDTF9-I,II,III,IV) in Fig. 6 stand for the nite element re-

A.K. Nayak et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 42 (2006) 821 836

829

Table 3
Buckling stresses for uniaxially loaded simply supported plates
Series solution [42]

a/b

0.50
0.70
1.0

10077
7930
7091

FSDTF4

FSDTF9

Nodes per side

Nodes per side

13

13

11600
8684
7803

10858
8133
7310

10729
8038
7225

10759
8061
7245

10637
7969
7163

10630
7964
7159

FEM [15]a

FEM [15]b

10632
7966
7161

10732
8038
7225

a Rectangular element.
b Triangular element.

500

700
Kim and Hong [45]
Rao [12]
FSDTF4
FSDTF9
FSM [4344]

600
Critical direct loads per unit length

Critical direct loads per unit length

450

Rao [12]
FSM [43-44]
FSDTF4
FSDTF9

650

400

350

300

550
500
450
400
350
300

250

250
200

200
0

10

20

30

40
50
(degrees)

60

70

80

90

10

20

30

40
50
(degrees)

60

70

80

90

Fig. 7. Effect of bre orientation on the uniaxial buckling loads of sandwich

plates (
/core/
).

Fig. 8. Effect of bre orientation on the uniaxial buckling loads of sandwich

plates with four layer laminated face sheets (
)s .

sults from mesh densities I, II, III and IV (in Figs. 5(a)(d),
respectively), for four (FSDTF4) and nine (FSDTF9) nodes,
respectively. As seen from Fig. 6, the present elements (FSDTF4 and FSDTF9) are free from the effect of mesh distortions. Since the nite element results do not deviate from
the exact results even for a/ h = 10, 000, the developed elements show the absence of shear locking phenomenon in the
formulation.

stiffness coefcients Q11(core) to be used later in the calculation

of fundamental frequencies is about 999542.7 Pa. The material
properties of the face plates of the sandwich plate are  times
the material properties of the core, where  is the modular ratio. The mass density core of the core is adopted as 1 Kg/m3 .
The ratio of mass densities in the face plates to that of the core
is taken as unity as mentioned by Srinivas and Rao [39]. The
length of the square plate is taken as 1 m. The thickness of the
each face plate is employed as 0.1h where h is the thickness
of the plate. The core thickness is taken as 0.8h. The overall
thickness to side ratio (h/a) is adopted as 0.1. A mesh density
of 17 nodes per side of the entire plate is undertaken in the
present analysis. The results from FSDT4 and FSDT9 for the
fundamental frequency  = (core h2 /Q11(core) )1/2 are compared with FEM solutions of the zig-zag theory of Polit and
Touratier [19] and Makhecha et al. [40], exact solution of Srinivas and Rao [39], FEM solutions from ABAQUS [40] and ANSYS [40] and Finite Strip Method (FSM) solution of Yuan and
Dawe [41] in Table 2. It can be observed that the present results

4.2. Topic 2: Free vibration analysis of sandwich panels

Polit and Touratier [19] and Makhecha et al. [40] compared
their nite element formulations based on zig-zag theories with
the exact solution from the works of Srinivas and Rao [39]. We
selected this problem to compare our FSDT4 and FSDT9 for
free vibration analysis of simply supported square sandwich
plates. The material properties of the core of the sandwich plate
are [19,39]: E1 =897949 Pa, E2 =471424 Pa, G12 =262931 Pa,
G13 = 159914 Pa, G23 = 266810 Pa, 12 = 0.44. The elastic

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A.K. Nayak et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 42 (2006) 821 836

Central displacement/thickness

3.5
Px=0.0 Pxcr

Reismann1 [8]

2.5

Px=1.0 Pxcr
Reismann2 [8]

Px= -0.5 Pxcr

Reismann3 [8]

1.5

Static Solution

Static Solution

1
Static Solution

0.5
0

(a)

4
Time ( sec)

7
x 10-4

Central displacement/thickness

3.5
Px=0.0 Pxcr
3

Reismann1 [8]

2.5

Px=1.0 Pxcr
Reismann2 [8]

Px= -0.5 Pxcr

Reismann3 [8]

Static Solution

1.5
Static Solution

1
Static Solution

0.5
0

(b)

4
Time ( sec)

7
x 10-4

Fig. 9. Comparison of the central displacement of the rectangular isotropic plate subjected to various initial stresses using: (a) Four node (FSDTF4) and (b)
Nine node (FSDTF9) assumed strain rst-order elements and results from the Mindlin theory (Reismann [8]); In (a) and (b), Reismann1, Reismann 2 and
Reismann3 denote the analytical results with Px = 0.0Pxcr , Px = 1.0Pxcr and Px = 0.5Pxcr , respectively; Results from FSDTF4 in (a) and FSDTF9 in (b)
are shown as Px = 0.0Pxcr , Px = 1.0Pxcr and . .Px = 0.5Pxcr .

are in excellent agreement with the exact [39], FEM solutions

[19,40] and FSM [41].

4.3. Topic 3: Critical buckling stress of simply supported

sandwich plates with soft cores under uniaxial compression
Since the transient response of initially stressed composite
sandwich plates needs buckling loads as input parameters in
the solution process, it is important to investigate the behaviour
of the present elements to determine the critical buckling stress
of composite sandwich panels.
An example for validation purposes deals with the buckling analysis of a simply supported rectangular sandwich plate
(0/core/0) with isotropic face plates under uniaxial compression is considered with the following geometrical and material properties [15,42]: b = 23.5; hf = 0.021; hc = 0.181;
E1 = 9.5 106 12 = 0.25, Core: Gxz = Gyz = 19,000. The
entire plate is discretized with a number of four and nine
node elements by employing a mesh density of 5, 9 and 13
nodes per side. The results from the present investigation are
compared in Table 3 with a series solution [42] and previously published nite element results [15]. Good agreement

can be observed between the present model and the published

results.
A stability analysis is undertaken of a simply supported
square plate composed of aluminium honeycomb core and two
identical laminated, angle-ply, carbon bre reinforced plastic
(CFRP) face plates with the following geometric and material
properties: a =0.225 m, Face plates: 2hf =0.2103 m, EL =
229 GPa, ET = 13.350 GPa, GLT = 5.249 GPa, LT = 0.3151.
Core: hc = 10.0 103 m Gxz = 146 MPa, Gyz = 90.4 MPa.
Fig. 7 shows the effect of bre orientation on uniaxial buckling
loads of sandwich plates (
/core/
) from present nite element formulation with a mesh of 17 nodes per side of the full
plate, along with the results from the nite strip method (FSM)
[43,44] and the RayleighRitz approaches (Rao [12] and Kim
and Hong [45]). It is clear from Fig. 7 that the present results
are in close agreement with FSM results. In RayleighRitz
approaches [12,45], the natural boundary conditions are not
satised fully because of the presence of stretching/shearing
coupling terms in force/deformation relations. These stretching/shearing coupling terms [12] are negligibly small for single
layer face plates. This might be the reason for the predicted
responses from earlier RayleighRitz method are markedly
overstiff, due to overconstraint at the plate boundaries caused

A.K. Nayak et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 42 (2006) 821 836

831

2.5

7 Nodes ( t = 40 s)
5 Nodes ( t = 50 s)

5 Nodes ( t = 100 s)

Px=(0.5) Pxcr

5 Nodes ( t = 200 s)
Central deflection

Central deflection

1.5

Px=(0.0)Pxcr
1

2
Px=(+1.0)Pxcr

0.5

-4

-6
0

0.005

0.01

0.015
Time, t(sec.)

0.02

0.025

0.03

Fig. 10. Sandwich with Soft Core (a/ h=100, 2hf / h=0.05): Stability of the
Newmark algorithm for a simply supported sandwich plate (0/90/0/90/core)s
subjected to blast loading for FSDTF4 t1 = 0.006, Px = (0.5)Pxcr .

Fig. 12. Sandwich with Foam Core(a/ h = 100, 2hf / h = 0.05): Variation of
the central deection w of a sandwich plate as a function of time under step
loading (- - - - )HSDT4; (-)FSDTF4; t1 = 0.016.

x 10-6

0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018

Time, t(sec.)

14

12

7 Nodes ( t = 40 s)
4

Px=(0.5)Pxcr

5 Nodes ( t = 50 s)
5 Nodes ( t = 100 s)

10

5 Nodes ( t = 200 s)
Inplane stress

Central deflection

-2

8
Px=(0.0)Pxcr

4
Px=(+1.0)Pxcr

-4

-6
0

0.005

0.01

0.015
Time, t(sec.)

0.02

0.025

0.03

Fig. 11. Sandwich with Soft Core(a/ h = 100, 2hf / h = 0.05): Stability of the
Newmark algorithm for a simply supported sandwich plate (0/90/0/90/core)s
subjected to blast loading for FSDTF9 t1 = 0.006, Px = (0.5)Pxcr .

by deciencies in the assumptions made for the variations of

the eld variables over the plate surface. The buckling loads of
simply supported square sandwich plates with four layer laminated face sheets (
)s are shown in Fig. 8. As seen from the
gure, the present results from a mesh of 17 nodes per side in

0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018

Time, t(sec.)

Fig. 13. Sandwich with Foam Core(a/ h = 100, 2hf / h = 0.05): Variation of
the inplane stress x (a/2, a/2, h/2) of a sandwich plate as a function of
time under step loading (-)HSDT4; (- - - -)FSDTF4; t1 = 0.016.

a full plate are in close agreement with RayleighRitz

method (Rao [12]) and FSM [43,44]. The reason for
such behaviour may be due to the inuence of stretching/shearing coupling terms in multi-layer face plates in all the
formulations.

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A.K. Nayak et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 42 (2006) 821 836

2.5

Central deflection

Px=(0.5)Pxcr

1.5

Px=(0.0)Pxcr
1

Px=(+1.0)Pxcr

0.5

4.5. Topic 5: Convergence and stability check for transient

analysis of initially stressed composite sandwich plates
(0/90/0/90/core)s with soft cores

0
0

0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018

Time, t(sec.)

Fig. 14. Sandwich with Foam Core (a/ h = 100, 2hf / h = 0.05): Variation of
the central deection w of a sandwich plate as a function of time under step
loading (- - - -)HSDT9; (-)FSDTF9; t1 = 0.016.

14

Px=(-0.5)Pxcr

12

10
Inplane stress

the dynamic response of an isotropic plate under the uniform

in-plane load Px = Nx using the Mindlin theory. The example
involves a rectangular isotropic plate of length a, width b, and
thickness h, having simply supported edges and subjected to a
sudden transverse load of intensity q over a square subregion of
side a located at the centre of the plate. The material properties
and parameters of the plate are as follows: a = 20, b = 28.28,
h = 2.0, a = 4, E = 216.0 105 , = 0.30,  = 7.96 105 and
q =2.94105 . Mesh densities of 45 and 810 in a quarter of
the plate are used for FSDTF9 and FSDTF4, respectively. The
time step is taken as 2.5
s. The comparative results from the
present formulation and Reismann and Tendorf [8] are shown
in Fig. 9. As seen from the gure, the present formulation gives
closer agreement with the analytical solution [8].

8
Px=(0.0)Pxcr
6

4
Px=(+1.0)Pxcr

This example deals with the transient analysis of simply supported square composite sandwich plates (0/90/0/90/core)s
with soft cores under blast loading. The structural sandwiches
considered have square platform with face sheets of eight plies
of graphite epoxy placed symmetrically about a soft core. The
material characteristics of the face sheets and core are given
by: Face sheets [26,29]:EL = 128 GPa, ET = 11.0 GPa, LT =
0.25, GLT = GLZ = GT Z = 4.48 GPa, f = 1500 kg/m3 . Soft
core [13,14,21]: G13 = 0.134355 GPa, G23 = 0.051675 GPa,
c = 0.12198 103 Ns2 /m4 . The transverse load q(x, y, t) is
given by q0 F (t) sin(x/a) sin(y/b) where F (t) is for Explosive blast loading: et , where  is 330 s1 . For this example,
a/ h is 100 and 2hf / h = 0.05; Figs. 10 and 11 show the central deection of a simply supported composite square sandwich plate (0/90/90/0/core)s subjected to initial prestress of
0.5Pxcr for different time steps under blast loading. Two mesh
densities of 5 and 7 nodes per side of the quarter plate are considered. As seen from the gures, it is clear that the solutions
converge (as the mesh is rened) and are stable (as the time
step is increased). For a given mesh (5 nodes per side), the solution at a given time (0.015 s) increases with decreasing values
of the time step (from 200
s to 50
).

0
0

0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018

Time, t(sec.)

Fig. 15. Sandwich with Foam Core (a/ h = 100, 2hf / h = 0.05): Variation of
the inplane stress x (a/2, a/2, h/2) of a sandwich plate as a function of
time under step loading (-)HSDT9; (- - - -)FSDTF9; t1 = 0.016.

4.4. Topic 4: Transient analysis of initially stressed isotropic

plate
This example is one of the most widely used test examples
in the transient analysis. Reismann and Tendorf [8] investigated

4.6. Topic 6: Transient analysis of initially stressed composite

sandwich plates with foam cores
This example deals with the transient analysis of simply supported square composite sandwich plates (0/90/0/90/core)s
under step loading. The structural sandwiches considered have
square platform with face sheets of eight plies of graphite epoxy
placed symmetrically about a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) foam
core. The material characteristics of the face sheets and the
core are: Face sheets [26,29]: EL = 128 GPa, ET = 11.0 GPa,
LT = 0.25, GLT = GLZ = GT Z = 4.48 GPa, f = 1500 kg/m3 .
PVC Foam core [26,29]: Ec = 103.63 MPa, Gc = 50 MPa,
c = 0.32, c = 130 kg/m3 . The transverse load q(x, y, t) is
given by q0 F (t) sin(x/a) sin(y/b) where F (t) is for step

A.K. Nayak et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 42 (2006) 821 836

833

1.5

Central deflection

Central deflection

1
0.5
0
FSDTF9

-0.5

FSDTF4
HSDT9

-1

0.5

0
FSDTF9
FSDTF4

-0.5

HSDT9
HSDT4

HSDT4

-1.5

-1
0

(a)

0.01
0.02
Time, t(sec.)

0.03

(b)

x 10-5

0.01
0.02
Time, t(sec.)

0.03

x 10-6

Central deflection

Central deflection

4
0.5

0
FSDTF9
FSDTF4
-0.5

HSDT9
HSDT4

0
FSDTF9
-2

HSDT9

-6
0

0.01
0.02
Time, t(sec.)

FSDTF4

-4

-1

(c)

0.03

(d)

HSDT4
0

0.01
0.02
Time, t(sec.)

0.03

Fig. 16. Sandwich with Soft Core (a/ h = 100, 2hf / h = 0.05): Variation of the central deection of a sandwich plate as a function of time for various
formulations and pulses: (a) Step; (b) Triangular; (c) Sine; (d) Exponential ((-)FSDTF9; (- - - - )FSDTF4); (- . - . - HSDT9); (. . . . . . HSDT4); t1 = 0.006,
Px = (0.5)Pxcr , time step = 50
s.

loading: 1, 0
t
t1 ; 0, t t1 . For this example, a/ h is 100

and 2hf / h = 0.05; For step loading t1 is taken as 0.016.
Since for this example, exact solutions are not available, two
four (HSDT4) and nine (HSDT9) node nite elements [26,29]
are implemented based on a rened third-order theory. A
mesh density of 13 nodes per side in a full plate is taken.
Figs. 1215 show the central deection and inplane stresses
x at location (x = a/2, y = a/2, z = h/2) of a simply supported composite square sandwich plate (0/90/0/90/core)s
subjected to various initial prestress under step loading with
a time step of 50
s. As seen from gures, both the nite
element formulations give identical results for the present
problem.
4.7. Topic 7: Transient analysis of initially stressed composite
sandwich plates (0/90/0/90/core)s with soft cores under
various loadings
This example deals with the transient analysis of simply supported square composite sandwich plates (0/90/0/90/core)s
under various loadings. The material and geometry is

same as that of Example 5. The transverse load q(x, y, t)

is given by q0 F (t) sin(x/a) sin(y/b) where F (t) is
for Sine loading: sin(t/t1 ), 0
t
t1 ; 0, t t1 ; Step
loading: 1, 0
t
t1 ; 0, t t1 ; Triangular loading: (1
t/t1 ), 0
t
t1 ; 0, t t1 ; Explosive blast loading: et ,
where  is 330 s1 and t1 is 0.006. The results from
both rst order and higher-order formulations with a time
step of 50
s are shown in Fig. 16 with a mesh density
of 13 nodes per side in a full plate. It can be seen that
both the formulations give identical results for the present
example.
4.8. Topic 8: Effect of face thickness to overall thickness ratio
and side to overall thickness (slenderness) ratio on sandwich
plates
This example involves the effect of face thickness to overall
thickness ratio on the transient response of composite sandwich plates (0/90/0/90/core)s with cross ply faces and soft
core. The material properties are same as that in Topic 7. The
sandwich panels are assumed to be simply supported. The re-

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A.K. Nayak et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 42 (2006) 821 836

Central deflection

-2

-4
0

0.005

0.01

0.015
Time, t(sec.)

0.02

0.025

0.03

0.005

0.01

0.015
Time, t(sec.)

0.02

0.025

0.03

(a)
x 10-7
1.5

Central deflection

1
0.5
0
-0.5
-1
0

(b)

Fig. 17. Sandwich with Soft Core (a/ h = 20 and 10 with 2hf / h = 0.05): Variation of the central deection of a sandwich plate as a function of time for
exponential pulse. (a) Various face to thickness loading with a/ h = 10(2hf / h = 0.05, . . .2hf / h = 0.10, . . 2hf / h = 0.15, . . . . . . 2hf / h = 0.20);
(b) various length to thickness ratios with 2hf / h = 0.05 (a/ h = 20, a/ h = 10 and t1 = 0.006, Px = (0.5)Pxcr , time step = 50
s.

sults from the present formulation with a mesh density of

13 nodes per side in a full plate with FSDTF9 are shown in
Fig. 17(a). As seen from the Fig. 17(a), for panels with a/ h =
100, as the thickness ratio of the face sheets, 2hf / h increases
from 0.05 to 0.20, the central deection decreases. This is consistent, because with higher face thickness, exural rigidity increases and thus deection should decrease. Fig. 17(b) shows
the response of sandwich panels for a/ h = 10 and 20 with
2hf / h = 0.05. As seen from the gure and as expected, as the
panels become thicker and stiffer, so the deection becomes
smaller.
4.9. Topic 9: Effect of boundary conditions on sandwich
panels with soft cores
The nal example deals with the effect of boundary conditions on the transient response of composite sandwich plates
with soft cores. The results using FSDTF9 with a mesh density
of 13 nodes per side in a full plate are shown in Fig. 18. The
boundary conditions SSSS, CCCC, SCSC and CSCS denote
the sides (y = 0 and x = 0 to a, x = a and y = 0 to a, y = a and
x = 0 to a, x = 0 and y = 0 to a) where S and C indicate simply
supported and clamped edge conditions, respectively. It can be

seen that the transient response decreases with greater geometric constraint imposed at four edges in the following sequence
(SSSS,CSCS,SCSC,CCCC). Though the boundary conditions
are symmetric in CSCS and SCSC, the response is different
due to the coupling effects in the sandwich panels.

5. Closure
In this paper, two novel assumed strain four and nine node
isoparametric shear deformable plate bending elements are developed based on the rst-order shear deformation theory. Full
integration is used to integrate the membrane, bending, shear
and inertia terms in the energy formulation. The shear correction factors are calculated from the transverse shear strain energy principle. Consistent mass matrix formulation is adopted
to preserve the total kinetic energy of the system. The plate
bending elements are validated against the standard benchmark problems on isotropic and laminated composite plates before taking up sandwich plate problems. The applicability of
these elements covers a wide range of problems, with varying material combinations, geometric features, and boundary
conditions.

A.K. Nayak et al. / Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 42 (2006) 821 836

4
SSSS
CCCC
SCSC
CSCS

Central deflection

-1

-2

-3
0

0.005

0.01

0.015
Time, t(sec.)

0.02

0.025

0.03

Fig. 18. Sandwich with Soft Core (a/ h = 10 with 2hf / h = 0.05): Variation
of the central deection of a sandwich plate as a function of time for
exponential pulse for various boundary conditions (SSSS, CCCC, SCSC,
CSCS), Px = (0.5)Pxcr , time step = 50
s.

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