Comparisons of displacement-based theories for waves and vibrations in laminated and sandwich composite plates

A semi-analytical method incorporating various displacement-based formulations has been developed to investigate propagation of time harmonic waves and vibrations in fiber reinforced polymer composite laminated and sandwich plates. Various displacement-based models starting from the first order shear deformation theory to the fourth order theory have been developed using combinations of linear, quadratic, cubic and quartic variation of axial and transverse displacements through the thickness of a lamina or a mathematical sub-layer. These displacement-based formulations have been validated by comparing their results with the analytical solutions available in the literature. Results of all the displacement models have been compared with those obtained by displacement model using quartic variation of in-plane and transverse displacements for vibration problem. Higher order displacement-based theory using cubic variation of in-plane and transverse displacements through the thickness of sub-layer has been found to yield converging results for wave propagation in laminated composite plates as well as for vibration problems. All the investigations performed indicate the importance of higher order theories for analysis of wave propagation and vibrations in composite laminated and sandwich plates.