A Three-Node Shear-Flexible Hybrid-Stress Finite Element for the Analysis of Laminated Composite Plates

A cost-effective, shear-flexible hybrid-stress element is developed for lami nated composite plates based on the Yang-Norris-Stavsky theory. The element is triangular and has vertex nodes only. The nodal variables are three displacements and two indepen dent normal rotations of C° type. The assumed stress field is linear. The assumed displace ment field is based on the anisoparametric interpolations in which the rotations and in- plane displacements are linear and the transverse displacement is quadratic. The element is invariant and non-locking. The results of the numerical studies show that the present el ement converges rapidly and monotonically in all thickness regimes.