Dynamic instability of laminated sandwich plates subjected to in-plane partial edge loading

The dynamic instability of laminated sandwich plates subjected to in-plane partial edge loading is studied for the first time using an efficient finite element plate model. The plate model is based on a refined higher order shear deformation plate theory, where the transverse shear stresses are continuous at the layer interfaces with stress free conditions at plate top and bottom surfaces. Interestingly the plate model having all these refined features requires unknowns at the reference plane only. However, this theory requires C¹ continuity of transverse displacement, which is difficult to satisfy arbitrarily in any existing finite element. To deal with this, a new triangular element developed by the authors is used in the present paper.