Abstract This study presents an isogeometric plate element, IG-RZT based on the refined zigzag theory (RZT) to model bending behavior of blade stiffened and unstiffened thick or thin laminates. This… Click to show full abstract
Abstract This study presents an isogeometric plate element, IG-RZT based on the refined zigzag theory (RZT) to model bending behavior of blade stiffened and unstiffened thick or thin laminates. This element is free of shear-locking and shear correction factors due to the use of Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS) functions which satisfy the requirement of C 1 continuity in the computation of transverse shear stresses. Comparison of the predictions with IG-RZT element with the previous benchmark solutions reveals fast convergence and high accuracy for general laminate layups under different loading and boundary conditions. Thus, the IG-RZT element can be adopted for computationally efficient and accurate analysis of unstiffened and stiffened flat laminates.
               
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