Abstract
In the analysis of the thick anisotropic laminated plates using the equivalent single-layer theory, calculation accuracy is deteriorated even by using higher order theory because the influence of the zig-zag displacements appears conspicuously as plate thickness ratio increases. In this study, the zig-zag functions of refined zig-zag theory is improved to be applied to isotropic plates, and the new zig-zag functions for out-of-plane displacement w is developed. This new zig-zag theory is applied to the bending analysis of anisotropic laminated plates, the accuracy of this theory and applicability to thick plate analysis are examined. The effective selecting method of the displacement fields in the zig-zag theory is clarified.
