Hygrothermal effects on the bending of angle-ply composite plates using a sinusoidal theory

The sinusoidal shear deformation plate theory is presented to study the response of multilayered angle-ply composite plates due to a variation in temperature and moisture concentrations. The classical, uniform and parabolic shear deformation plate theories are also considered. The effects of temperature and moisture concentrations on the material properties and the hygrothermal response of multilayered angle-ply composite plates are studied. A number of examples are solved to illustrate the numerical results concerning bending response of multilayered angle-ply composite plates subjected to hygro-thermo-mechanical effects. Hygrothermal response due to a variation in temperature and moisture concentrations has been investigated for different material types sensitive to changing hygrothermal environment conditions. Numerical results suggest that temperature-dependent and/or moisture-dependent material properties ought to be used in the analysis of laminated plates subjected to hygrothermal loads.