Finite element analysis of hygrothermal effects of angle-ply composite plates resting on elastic foundation

Analytical and numerical results on hygrothermal behaviors of angle-ply composite plates resting on elastic foundation are scarce in literature. To fill this gap, a higher-order global-local model (HGLMA) is proposed for hygrothermal analysis of angle-ply composite plates resting on elastic foundation. Based on the model HGLMA, a triangular plate element is formulated by using the refined element approach, in which a new finite element formulation including effects of elastic foundation has been developed. By analyzing hygrothermal response of composite plates with general configurations, the effects of elastic foundation parameters, lamination angles, boundary conditions, transverse normal strain, and hygrothermal expansion coefficients on the hygrothermal response have all been studied. Numerical results showed that elastic foundation has a significant impact on the behaviors of composite plates and models neglecting transverse normal strain fail to simulate the effects of the elastic foundation parameters on displacements and stresses of symmetric composite plates.