A New 4-node Quadrilateral Element Based On Layerwise Approach For Free Vibration Analysis Of Laminate-faced Sandwich Plates

The new quadrilateral element based on the layerwise approach, developed earlier by the present authors for the static analysis of laminated composite and sandwich plates, is extended to study the free vibration behavior of multilayer sandwich plates. The model is based on the third order shear deformation theory for the core and the first order shear deformation theory for the face sheets. Compatibility conditions are imposed at face sheets/core interfaces to satisfy the interlaminar displacement continuity. Unlike the majority of the layerwise models, the number of DOFs is independent of the number of layers. In order to study the free vibration, a consistent mass matrix is adopted in the present formulation. The obtained numerical results by the present model are in excellent agreement with those obtained via analytical solution and numerical results found in the literature.