Hierarchical modeling and its numerical implementation for layered thin elastic structures

Thin elastic structures such as beam- and plate-like structures and laminates are characterized by the small thickness, which lead to classical plate and laminate theories in which the displacement fields through the thickness are assumed linear or higher-order polynomials. These classical theories are either insufficient to represent the complex stress variation through the thickness or may encounter the accuracy-computational cost dilemma. In order to overcome the inherent problem of classical theories, the concept of hierarchical modeling has been emerged. In the hierarchical modeling, the hierarchical models with different model levels are selected and combined within a structure domain, in order to make the modeling error be distributed as uniformly as possible throughout the problem domain. The purpose of current study is to explore the potential of hierarchical modeling for the effective numerical analysis of layered structures such as laminated composite. For this goal, the hierarchical models are constructed and the hierarchical modeling is implemented by selectively adjusting the level of hierarchical models. As well, the major characteristics of hierarchical models are investigated through the numerical experiments.