This paper deals with the bending and vibration analysis of multi-folding laminate composite plate using finite element method based on the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT). | Vietnam Journal of Mechanics, VAST, Vol. 34, No. 3 (2012), pp. 185 – 202 BENDING AND VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF MULTI-FOLDING LAMINATE COMPOSITE PLATE USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD Tran Ich Thinh1 , Bui Van Binh2 , Tran Minh Tu3 1 Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Vietnam 2 University of Power Electric, Vietnam 3 University of Civil Engineering, Vietnam Abstract. This paper deals with the bending and vibration analysis of multi-folding laminate composite plate using finite element method based on the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT). The algorithm and Matlab code using eight nodded rectangular isoparametric plate element with five degree of freedom per node were built for numerical simulations. In the numerical results, the effect of folding angle on deflections, natural frequencies and transient displacement response for different boundary conditions of the plate were investigated. Key words: Bending analysis, natural frequencies, transient response, multi-folding laminate composite plate, finite element analysis. 1. INTRODUCTION Folded plate structures can be found in roofs, sandwich plate cores, cooling towers, and many other structures. They have some specific advantages: lightweight, easy to form and economical, and have a much higher load carrying capacity than flat plates. Their superior characteristics and wide application have aroused much interest from researchers to provide useful information for the design of such structures in engineering. A host of investigators using a variety of approaches has studied behavior of isotropic folded plates previously. Goldberg and Leve [1] developed a method based on elasticity theory. According to this method, there are four components of displacements at each point along the joints: two components of translation and a rotation, all lying in the plane normal to the joint, and a translation in the direction of the joint. The stiffness matrix is derived from equilibrium equations at the joints, while .
