Composite laminated plate analysis using the natural radial element method

In this work an innovative numerical approach, combining the simplicity of low-order finite elements connectivity with the geometric flexibility of meshless methods, is extended to the elastostatic analysis of composite laminated plates. The Voronoi diagram geometric concept is used to enforce the nodal connectivity and the background integration mesh is constructed uniquely dependent on the computational nodal mesh through the application of the Delaunay triangulation. With the proposed numerical method, the nodal connectivity is imposed through nodal sets with reduced size, reducing significantly the test function construction cost. The interpolations functions are constructed using Euclidian norms and easily obtained. In this work it is considered the first-order plate shear deformation theory. To prove the good behaviour of the proposed interpolation function elastostatic composite laminated plate benchmark examples are solved. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.