Finite element analysis of laminated composite plates

Abstract A finite element analysis technique for an arbitrarily laminated anisotropic plate is described. A superparametric quadratic plate element with five degrees‐of‐freedom per node is used in the analysis. A stress‐strain relation is derived from a three‐dimensional approach to the problem. The volume integration of the stiffness matrix is evaluated by numerical integration using the Gauss quadrature formula with 2 × 2 × 2 sampling points. A variety of laminated plate problems is solved and the results are compared with the exact solutions, which demonstrate the validity of the method.