Finite Elements in Analysis and Design 39 (2003) 883–903 www.elsevier.com/locate/nel A new plate bending element based on higher-order shear deformation theory for the analysis of composite plates A.H. Sheikh a ; ∗ , A. Chakrabarti b a Department of Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721302, West Bengal, India b Department of Civil Engineering, Jalpaiguri Govt. Engineering College, Jalpaiguri-735102, West Bengal, India Received 31 July 2001; accepted 7 January 2002 Abstract A triangular element based on Reddy’s higher-order shear deformation plate theory is developed. Although the plate theory is quite attractive but it could not be exploited as expected in nite-element analysis. This is due to the diculties associated with satisfaction of inter-elemental continuity requirement of the plate theory. Keeping this aspect in view, the proposed element is developed where Reddy’s plate theory is successfully implemented. It has six nodes and each node contains equal degrees of freedom. The performance of the element is tested with dierent numerical examples, which show its precision and range of applicability. ? 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: HSDT; Finite element; Composite 1. Introduction The nite-element method [1] is regarded as an accurate and versatile tool for structural analysis. The plate-bending problem is one of the rst problems where nite element was applied at early 1960s. The various diculties encountered at that time and subsequently could not be overcome satisfactorily and this has made the research in this area still alive in present days. At the beginning, attempts have been made to develop thin-plate elements based on Kircho’s hypothesis where the diculties are mostly concerned with the satisfaction of inter-elemental continuity requirement for transverse displacement w. It requires C 1 continuity of transverse displacement (w) i.e., w and its derivatives should be continuous at the common edges between two elements. Again it has been established that the normal slope cannot be made continuous with the usual nodal unknowns i.e., * Corresponding author. Fax: +92-3222-55303. E-mail address: hamid@naval.iitkgp.ernet.in (A.H. Sheikh). 0168-874X/02/$ - see front matter ? 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0168-874X(02)00137-3