Large amplitude bending behaviour of laminated composite curved panels

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the nonlinear flexural behaviour of laminated curved panel under uniformly distributed load. The study has been extended to analyse different types of shell panels by employing the newly developed nonlinear mathematical model. Design/methodology/approach – The authors have developed a novel nonlinear mathematical model based on the higher order shear deformation theory for laminated curved panel by taking the geometric nonlinearity in Green-Lagrange sense. In addition to that all the nonlinear higher order terms are considered in the present formulation for more accurate prediction of the flexural behaviour of laminated panels. The sets of nonlinear governing equations are obtained using variational principle and discretised using nonlinear finite element steps. Finally, the nonlinear responses are computed through the direct iterative method for shell panels of various geometries (spherical/cylindrical/hyperboloid/elliptical). Findings – The importance of the present numerical model for small strain large deformation problems has been demonstrated through the convergence and the comparison studies. The results give insight into the laminated composite panel behaviour under mechanical loading and their deformation behaviour. The effects of different design parameters and the shell geometries on the flexural responses of the laminated curved structures are analysed in detailed. It is also observed that the present numerical model are realistic in nature as compared to other available mathematical model for the nonlinear analysis of the laminated structure. Originality/value – A novel nonlinear mathematical model is developed first time to address the severe geometrical nonlinearity for curved laminated structures. The outcome from this paper can be utilized for the design of the laminated structures under real life circumstances.