Thermoelastic Analysis of Laminated Plates. I: Symmetric Specially Orthotropic Laminates

Thermally induced deformations and stress resultants in symmetric laminated plates are analyzed. The method of M. Levy is used to study the transverse bending of a specially orthotropic laminate having two simply supported edges and subject to a temperature distribution that does not vary in a direction parallel to the simple supports. A solution is also obtained for the problem of in-plane stretching of the plate middle surface caused by a general three-dimensional temperature field. As an illustrative example, the thermoelastic response of a unidirectionally fiber-reinforced plate to a temperature variation that is linear in the thickness direction is computed.