ON THE REFINED FIRST-ORDER SHEAR DEFORMATION PLATE THEORY OF KARMAN TYPE

A new refined first_order shear_deformation plate theory of the Krmn type is presented for engineering applications and a new version of the generalized Krmn large deflection equations with deflection and stress functions as two unknown variables is formulated for nonlinear analysis of shear_deformable plates of composite material and construction, based on the Mindlin/Reissner theory. In this refined plate theory two rotations that are constrained out in the formulation are imposed upon overall displacements of the plates in an implicit role. Linear and nonlinear investigations may be made by the engineering theory to a class of shear_deformation plates such as moderately thick composite plates, orthotropic sandwich plates, densely stiffened plates, and laminated shear_deformable plates. Reduced forms of the generalized Krmn equations are derived consequently, which are found identical to those existe in the literature.