Isogeometric static analysis of laminated composite plane beams by using refined zigzag theory

An attempt has been made here for the isogeometric static analysis of the laminated composite plane beams by using refined zigzag theory. In this study; instead of the standart finite elements, which use polynomial shape functions, an isogeometric refined zigzag finite element (IGRZF) has been developed, that gives the opportunity to get the exact beam geometries directly from a computer aided design (CAD) software, Rhinoceros. To provide less computational effort, the refined zigzag theory has been introduced, that make IGRZF independent from the number of layers considered. The aforementioned finite element has been implemented in an in-house Mathematica code, which can handle both thin and thick beams without the problem of shear locking and does not require shear correction factors. Using this approach, various sandwich beams have been analyzed and the obtained results are compared with other reliable published results for various aspect ratios and support types.