A Plate Element Based on Relative Displacement Concept

In this paper, a new plate element is developed that is based on the concept of relative displacement. It is quite different from the traditional plate element because it adopts relative translational degrees-of-freedom instead of rotational ones. The superiority of this element is a good treatment of laminated composite plate problems, because this element not only considers the shear flexibility but also models layer-wise in-plane displacement of the laminated composite plate. Finally, numerical examples will demonstrate this property.