On the free vibration response of laminated composite plates via FEM

In this research paper, the free vibrational response of laminated composite plates is investigated using a non-polynomial refined shear deformation theory (NP-RSDT). The most interesting feature of this theory is the parabolic distribution of transverse shear deformations while ensuring the conditions of nullity of shear stresses at the free surfaces of the plate without requiring the Shear correction factor “Ks”. A fourth-nodded isoparametric element with four degrees of freedom per node is employed for laminated composite plates. The numerical analysis of simply supported square anti-symmetric cross-ply and angle-ply laminated plate is carried out using a special discretization based on four-node finite element method which four degrees of freedom per node. Several numerical results are presented to show the effect of the coupling parameters of the plate such as the modulus ratios, the thickness ratio and the plate layers number on adimensional eigen frequencies. All numerical results presented using the current finite element method (FEM) is presented in 3D curve form.