Int. J Sci. Emerging Tech. Vol-2 No.

2 November, 2011


53
Thermal analysis of Composite Laminated
Plates using Higher-order shear deformation
theory with Zig-Zag Function
T.Dharma Raju
1
and J. Suresh Kumar
2
1
Dept of Mechanical Engg, Godavari Institute of Engineering &Technology, Rajahmundry-533294, India
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, JNTU college of engineering, Hyderabad-500085,India
1
raju_thummala@yahoo.com and
2
jyothula1971@gmail.com


Abstract - In this paper an analytical procedure is
developed to investigate the Thermal characteristics of
laminated composite plates under thermal loading
based on higher-order displacement model with zig-zag
function, with out enforcing zero transverse shear
stresses on the top and bottom faces of the laminated
plates. This function improves slope discontinuities at
the interfaces of laminated composite plates. The
related functions are obtained using the dynamic
version of principle of virtual work or Hamiltons
principle. The solutions are obtained using Naviers and
numerical methods for anti-symmetric cross-ply and
angle-ply laminates with a specific type of simply
supported boundary conditions SS-1 and SS-2. The
Numerical results are presented for anti-symmetric
cross-ply and angle-ply laminated plates. All the
solutions presented are close agreement with the theory
of elasticity and available literature.

Keywords: zig-zag function, Thermal analysis, Hamiltons
Principle, cross-ply and angle-ply.
1 Introduction

The composite laminate plates are straight, plane
surface structures whose thickness is slight compare
to other dimensions geometrically, they are bound
either by straight or curved lines. As the prediction of
the response characteristics of laminated composite
structure is a challenging task depending on their
intrinsic anisotropy, heterogeneity, and low ratio of
the transverse shear modulus to the in-plane Youngs
modulus. So, it is necessary to analyze the thermal
characteristics of laminated composite plates. Many
plate theories have been developed to analyze
laminated composite plates. Padovon J [1]
investigated the effects of mechanical and thermal
loads on the local stationary fields of generally
laminated plates, based on three-dimensional thermo
elasticity theory. Tungikar V.B et al., [2] presented a
three dimensional exact solutions for temperature
distribution and thermal stresses in simply supported
finite rectangular orthotropic laminates and is
subjected to prescribed boundary conditions under
combined thermal and mechanical loading, which
will be used to check the accuracy of more
generalized numerical tools. Savoia M and Reddy
J.N. [3] discussed the stress analysis of multilayered
plates subjected to thermal and mechanical loads in
the context of the three-dimensional quasi-static
theory of thermo elasticity. Ali J.S.M et al., [4]
formulated a new displacement based higher-order
theory. The theory employs realistic displacement
variations and is shown to be accurate for even thick
laminates and for any combination of mechanical and
thermal loading. Dafedar J.B. et al., [5] investigated
buckling response of laminated composite plates
subjected to mechanical and hygrothermal loads. For
this they used analytical mixed theory based on the
potential energy principle. Maenghyo Cho et al., [6]
developed a higher order zig-zag plate theory to
refine the predictions of the mechanical, thermal, and
electric behaviors partially coupled. The in-plane
displacement fields are constructed by superimposing
linear zig-zag field to the smooth globally cubic
varying field through the thickness. E.Carrera [7]
discussed the use of the Murakamis zig-zag function
in the modeling of layered plates and shells. In this,
ZZF modeling was discussed with various loads and
compared with other theories. Kamran Daneshjo et
al., [8] proposed A new mixed finite element
formulation to analyze transient coupled
thermoelastic problems. Coupled model of dynamic
thermoelasticity is selected for a laminated composite
and a homogeneous isotropic plate. Jinho Oh et al.,
[9] developed a higher order zig-zag shell theory
based on general tensor formulation to refine the
predictions of the mechanical, thermal, and electric
behaviors. S.H. Lo et al ., [10] proposed a four-node
quadrilateral plate element based on the globallocal
higher order theory to study the response of
laminated composite plates due to a variation in
temperature and moisture concentrations.

2 The Higher-Order Shears
Deformation Theory with ZIG-ZAG
Function:
Consider a rectangular plate of 0 s x s a; 0 s y
s b and
2
h
s z s
2
h
.
The higher-order shear deformation theory with
zig-zag function is assumed to be
__________________________________________________________________________
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Int. J Sci. Emerging Tech. Vol-2 No. 2 November, 2011


54


) , ( ) , , (
) , ( ) , (
) , ( ) , ( ) , ( ) , , (
) , ( ) , (
) , ( ) , ( ) , ( ) , , (
2
* 3
* 2
1
* 3
* 2

=
+
+ + + =
+
+ + + =
y x w z y x w
y x s y x z
y x v z y x z y x v z y x v
y x s y x z
y x u z y x z y x u z y x u
o
k y
o y o
k x
o x o




(1)
Where u
0
, v
0
, w
o,
s
1
and s
2
denote the
displacements of a point (x, y) on the mid-plane.

k

is the Zig-Zag function, defined as:
k
k k
k
h
Z
) 1 ( 2 =
Z
k
is the local transverse coordinate with its
origin at the center of the k
th
layer.
h
k
is the corresponding layer thickness.

x
,
y
are rotations of the normal to the
midplane about y and xaxes
u
0
*
, v
0
*
,
*
x
,
*
y
are the higherorder
deformation terms defined at the mid-plane.


The strain components are

* *
* * 2
3 2
3
y
k z
yo
z
sy
zk
yo y
x
k z
xo
z
sx
zk
xo x
+ + + =
+ + + =
c c c
c c c

0
z
= c

*
* 2
* *
2
3 2
x
z
xzo
z
sx xz
y
z
yzo
z
sy yz
xy
k z
xyo
z
sxy
zk
xyo xy
| c |
| c |
c c
+ + =
+ + =
+ + + =

( 2)


The stressstrain relationships in the global x-y-z
coordinate system can be written as


L
xz
xy xy
y y
x x
L
xz
yz
xy
y
x
T
T
T
Q
Q
Q Q Q
Q Q Q
Q Q Q

A
A
A
(
(
(
(
(
(

o
o c
o c
t
t
t
o
o
yz
L
55
44
33 23 13
23 22 12
13 12 11

0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
(3)
The governing equations of displacement model will
be derived using the principle of virtual
work as
0 ) (
0
= +
}
dt K V U
T
o o o
(4)
The virtual work statement shown in Eq. (4) ,
integrating through the thickness of laminate, the in-
plane and transverse force and moment resultant
relations in the form of matrix obtained as:

(
(
(

0
0
| 0 | 0
0 | |
0 | |
*
*
*
*
*
0
0
*
*
*
T
T
T
T
s
s
b
t
M
M
N
N
K
K
D
D B
B A
Q
Q
M
M
N
N
|
|
c
c

(5)

Equating the coefficients of each of virtual
displacements ou
o
ov
0
, ow
0
, o
x
, o
y
, ou
0
*
, ov
0
*
,
o
*
x
,o
*
y
, os
1
, os
2
to zero, the equations of motion
are obtained. These Equations are expressed in terms
of displacements u
o,
v
0,
w
0
,
x

,

y
,u
0
*
,v
0
*
,
*
x
,
*
y
, ,s
1
,s
2
by substituting for the force
and moment resultants
2.1 The Naviers Solutions of Simply Supported
Anti Symmetric Cross Ply Laminated Plates:
2.1.1 The ss-1 Boundary Conditions for the Anti-
Symmetric Cross Ply Laminated Plates are:
At edges x = 0 and x = a
Int. J Sci. Emerging Tech. Vol-2 No. 2 November, 2011


55
v
0
= 0, w
o
= 0,
y
= 0, M
x
= 0, v
0
*
= 0,
*
y
=
0, M
x
*
= 0, N
x
= 0, N
x
*
= 0, 0
2
= s 6 (a)
At edges y = 0 and y = b
u
0

= 0, w
o
= 0,
x
= 0, M
y
= 0, u
0
*
= 0,
*
x
= 0,
M
y
*
= 0, N
y
= 0, N
y
*
= 0, 0
1
= s 6(b)
2.1.2 The SS-2 Boundary Conditions for the anti-
symmetric Angle Ply Laminated Plates are:
At edges x = 0 and x = a
u
0

= 0, w
o
= 0,
y
= 0, Nxy= 0, M
x
= 0, u
0
*
=
0,
*
y
= 0, M
x
*
= 0, N
xy
*
= 0 , 0
1
= s 7(a)
At edges y = 0 and y = b
v
0
= 0, w
o
= 0,
x
= 0, N
xy
= 0, M
y
= 0, v
0
*
=
0,
*
x
= 0, M
y
*
= 0, N
xy
*
= 0, 0
2
= s 7(b)

-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
-0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6
thickness co ordinate(z/h)
N
.
t
r
a
s
v
e
r
s
e

s
h
e
a
r

s
t
r
e
s
s
(
t
x
z
)
HSDTWZF
HSDT
Fig.2 Non-dimensionalized max.transverse shear stress (t
xz
) Vs thickness co-ordinate (z/h) f or
simply supported anti-symmetric angle -ply laminated square plate
(-45/45)8 ss2
-0.09
-0.06
-0.03
0
0.03
0.06
0.09
0.12
0.15
-0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
N
.
T
r
a
n
s
v
e
r
s
e

s
h
e
a
r

s
t
r
e
s
s

(
t
x
z
)
HSDTWZF
HSDT
(0/90)
ss1 a/h=5
Thickness coordinate (z/h)
Fig.1 Non-dimensionalized max.transverse shear stress (t
xz
) Vs thickness co-
ordinate (z/h) f or simply supported anti-symmetric cross-ply laminated square
plate
Int. J Sci. Emerging Tech. Vol-2 No. 2 November, 2011


56
The displacements at the mid plane will be defined to
satisfy the boundary conditions in Eq.(6) &(7).These
displacements will be substituted in governing
equations to obtain the equations in terms of A,B,D
parameters. The obtained equations will be solved to
find the behavior of the laminated composite plates.
3. Results and Discussion
The simply supported boundary conditions
(SS-1) shown in Eq. (6) are considered for solutions
of anti-symmetric cross-ply laminates and Eq. (7) for
solutions of anti-symmetric angle-ply laminates using
a higher order shear deformation theory with zig- zag
function.
The material properties of graphite epoxy used for
each lamina of the laminated composite plate are:
E
1
/ E
2
= 25, G
12
/ E
2
= 0.5, G
23
/ E
2
= 0.2,
12
/
13
=

23
= 0.25, o
2
/ o
1
= 1125

The deflections and stresses are presented here in
non-dimensional form using the following
multipliers:
M
1
= w/ho
1
T S
2
M
2
= (u, v)/ho
1
T S M
3
=
(o
i
, t
ij
) / E
2
o
1
T
Fig. 1 through 3 shows the plots of the normal and
transverse stresses through the thickness of anti-
-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
-0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
thickness co ordinate (z/h) N
.
t
r
a
n
s
v
e
r
s
e

s
h
e
a
r

s
t
r
e
s
s
(
t
y
z
)
HSDTWZF
HSDT
Fig.3 Non-dimensionalized max.transverse shear stress (t
yz
) Vs thickness co-ordinate (z/h) f or
simply supported anti-symmetric angle -ply laminated square plate .
(-45/45)4 ss2
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
side to thickness ratio(a/h)
N
.
t
r
a
n
s
v
e
r
s
e

s
h
e
a
r

s
t
r
e
s
s
(
t
x
z
)
HSDTWZF
HSDT
(0/90) ss1
Fig. 4 Non-dimensionalized max.transverse shear stress (t
xz
) Vs side to thickness
ratio(a/h)f or simply supported anti-symmetric cross-ply laminated square plate
Int. J Sci. Emerging Tech. Vol-2 No. 2 November, 2011


57
symmetric cross-ply and angle-ply laminated plates.
From the figures it is observed that the slope
discontinuities in HSDT at the interfaces are achieved
with the inclusion of zig-zag function in the theories.
From fig.2 it is noted that the maximum shear stress
obtain from HSDTWZF is 1.2 times than that of
HSDT. Fig.4 contain plots of non-dimensionalized
transverse stresses as a function of side to thickness
ratio (a/h) for anti-symmetric angle-ply and cross- ply
laminated plates. The effect of transverse shear
deformation and coupling is negligible for all values
of a/h is > 10 and it is quite significant for all the
values of a/h is <10.

4. Conclusions
From the results, it is concluded that the influence of
the thermal field is very predominant and induces a
high transverse normal stress (o
z
) at the interfaces,
which may cause failure of the weak adhesive bond.
The inclusion of the ZZF in a displacement model
has resulted to be more effective than the
introduction of higher-order polynomials.The effect
of bending stretching coupling present in 2 layered
plate on stresses and a deflection is to increase the
magnitude than those of 4, 6 and 10-layered
plates.The higher-order theories are uniformly
accurate irrespective of whether the loading is
thermal or mechanical with the inclusion of ZZF.

References
[1] J. Padovon, Thermo elasticity of Anisotropic
Generally Laminated Slabs Subject to Spatially
Periodic Thermal Loads, J. of Applied
Mechanics, pp. 341-346, 1975.
[2] V.B. Tungikar, K.M. Rao, Three Dimensional
exact solution of thermal stresses in rectangular
composite laminate, J. of Composite Structures,
Vol. 27,, pp. 419-430,1994.
[3] M. Savoia, J.N. Reddy, Three-dimensional
Thermal Analysis of Laminated Composite
Plates, Int. J. of Solids Structures, Vol. 32, No.
5, pp. 593-608, 1995.
[4] J.S.M. Ali, K. Bhaskar and et al, A new theory
for accurate thermal / Mechanical flexural
analysis of symmetric laminated plates, J. of
Composite Structures, Vol. 45, pp. 227-232,
1999.
[5] J.B. Dafedar, Y.M. Desai, Thermo mechanical
Buckling of Laminated Composite Plates using
Mixed, Higher-order Analytical Formulation, J.
of Transactions of the ASME, Vol. 69, pp. 790-
799,2002.
[6] Maenghyo Cho and Jinho Oh, Higher order zig-
zag plate theory under thermo-electric-
mechanical loads combined,J of Composites
Engineering, Volume 34, Issue 1, pp 67-82,
January 2003.
[7] E. Carrera , On the use of the Murakami's zig-
zag function in the modeling of layered plates
and shells, J of Computers & Structures
,Volume 82, Issues 7-8, pp 541-554 , March
2004.
[8] Kamran Daneshjo and Morteza Ramezani ,
Classical coupled thermoelasticity in laminated
composite plates based on third-order shear
deformation theory, Composite
Structures,Volume 64, Issues 3-4, pp 369-375,
June 2004.
[9] Jinho Oh, Maenghyo Cho and Jun-Sik Kim

,
Enhanced lower-order shear
deformation theory for fully coupled
electro-thermo-mechanical smart
laminated plates, Smart Materials and
Structures,Volume 16, January 2007.
[10] S.H. Lo, Wu Zhen, Y.K. Cheung and Chen
Wanji, Hygrothermal effects on multilayered
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theory, Composite Structures,Volume 92, Issue
3, Pages 633-646, February 2010.