Analysis of thick isotropic and cross-ply laminated plates by radial basis functions and a Unified Formulation

In this paper, we combine Carrera's Unified Formulation and a radial basis function collocation technique for predicting the static deformations and free vibration behavior of thin and thick isotropic and cross-ply laminated plates. Through numerical experiments, the capability and efficiency of this collocation technique for static and vibration problems are demonstrated, and the numerical accuracy and convergence are thoughtfully examined. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.