Thermally Induced Displacement in Simply-supported Laminates

Thermally-induced transverse displacement of unidirectional ply, cross-ply and anti-symmetric angle-ply composite plate is investigated. The laminates are assumed to be simply supported along the four edges. The dynamic flexural response due to sudden surface heating is examined, with emphasis on the effects of plate thickness and stacking sequence on the maximum plate deflection of a graphite-epoxy composite. The total displacement is obtained by superposition of the first mode quasi-static and dynamic solutions. The quasi-static displacement is derived using a Levy-type solution while the dynamic displacement is formulated by utilizing the Classical Lamination Theory (CLT), Galerkin's Method and the Laplace Transform. The results show that thermally-induced displacements in unidirectional and cross-ply laminates for the same thickness are far less than those in angle-ply laminates.