A multilayer anisotropic plate model with warping functions for the study of vibrations reformulated from Woodcockʹs work

In this paper, a suitable model for static and dynamic analysis of inhomogeneous anisotropic multilayered plates is described. This model takes into account the variations of the transverse shear strains through the thickness of the plate by means of warping functions. Warping functions are determined by enforcing kinematic and static assumptions at the interfaces. This model leads to: a 10×10 stiffness matrix coupling to each other the membrane strains, the bending and torsion curvatures, and the x and y-derivatives of the transverse shear strains; and a classical 2×2 transverse shear stiffness matrix. This model has been proven to be very efficient, especially when high ratios between the stiffnesses of layers – up to 106 – are present. ork is related to Woodcockʹs model, so it can be seen as a reformulation of his work. However, it brings several enhancements: the displacement field is made explicit; it is reformulated with commonly used plate notations; laminate equations of motion are fully detailed; the place of this model among other plate models is now easy to see and is discussed; the link between this formulation and the original one is completely written with all necessary proofs; misses and errors have been found in the energy coefficients of the original work and have been corrected; it is now easy to improve or to adapt the model for specific applications with the choice of refined or specific warping functions. deflection and natural frequencies for isotropic and anisotropic sandwich plates are given and compared to other models: they show that the present model is very accurate for the simulation of such structures.