Radial basis functions collocation for the bending and free vibration analysis of laminated plates using the Reissner-Mixed Variational Theorem

In this paper, we combine the Carrera's Unified Formulation CUF (E. Carrera. Theories and Finite elements for multilayered plates and shells: A unified compact formulation with numerical assessment and bench-marking. Arch. Comput. Meth. Eng., 10:215-297, 2003) and a radial basis function (RBF) collocation technique for predicting the static deformations and free vibrations behavior of thin and thick cross-ply laminated plates. For the first time, the Reissner-Mixed Variational Theorem is used together with the RBF collocation to achieve a highly accurate technique. The accuracy and efficiency of this collocation technique for static and vibration problems are demonstrated through numerical examples. (C) 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.