Improved transverse shear stiffnesses for anisotropic sandwich plates and shells.

Abstract

Improved transverse shear stiffnesses allow to use the simple Mindlin theory for the analysis of sandwich plates and shells. A procedure to set suitable values is outlined. The applicability is demonstrated by comparing plate bending displacements with those obtained from the classical sandwich theory and from Reddy's theory. The accuracy of the displacements is checked against exact solutions of the three-dimensional elasticity proplem. Furthermore, natural vibrations of a point supported solar panel are studied. The results testify the utility and efficiency of the proposed approach.