Free Vibration Behavior of Laminated Composite Plates

The present research consists of analyzing the free vibration of composite plates using a new four-variable high-order refined shear function compared to five variables in other high-order theories. Among the advantages of this new theory: It takes into account the shear effect in the calculation of strains without the use of shear correction factors and which gives rise to such a parabolic variation of shear stresses in thickness by satisfying the conditions of nullity of shear stresses at the surfaces (upper and lower). The numerical results obtained by the present high-order shear theory predict natural frequencies with such accuracy while comparing with the elasticity solution and other solutions of the high-order theories available in the literature. In the light of the results obtained we can say that the present high-order shear theory is accurate, simple and effective for studying the dynamic behavior of composite plates.