Abstract: | The growing use of sandwich and laminated plates requires a theoretically based prediction of the mechanical behavior of structural elements of such type. Starting with the pioneering studies of Reissner, a great number of theories for the engineering calculations have been developed. The review deals with the classification of the theories and discusses some of them in detail.Presented at the 10th International Conference on the Mechanics of Composite Materials (Riga, April 20–23, 1998).Martin Luther Universität, Halle-Wittenberg, Fachbereich Werkstoffwissenschaften, D-06099 Halle, Germany. Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 333–348, 1998. |