NONUNIFORM FINITE STRIP METHOD FOR FLEXED COMPOSITE PLATES

This article presents a new non-uniform finite strip technique for analyzing composite laminates having both material and geometrically non-uniform cross sections. This is an extension of the conventional concept of the finite strip method which deals with uniform cross sections only. The application of the proposed method for flexed composite plates is illustrated. Numerical results are demonstrated for a transversely loaded circular composite plate containing an eccentric hole and are compared with those from an independent finite element analysis and with measured data. The spectral convergence characteristics of the non-uniform strips are discussed, and the enhanced accuracy and reduced computer efforts are compared with those for the conventional finite element method.