REVIEW ARTICLE The development of laminated composite plate theories: a review Rasoul Khandan • Siamak Noroozi • Philip Sewell • John Vinney Received: 21 October 2011 / Accepted: 9 February 2012 / Published online: 29 February 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012 Abstract This study investigates and reviews approaches to modelling laminated composite plates. It explores the- ories that have been proposed and developed and assesses their suitability and functionality. The particular focus in this study has been on normal stresses and the through- thickness distributions of transverse shear. These are important for composite plates as stress-induced failures can occur in three different ways. Therefore, it is essential to understand and calculate transverse shear and normal stress through the thickness of the plate accurately. In this study, previous laminated composite plate theories are categorised and reviewed in a general sense, i.e. not problem specific, and the advantages and disadvantages of each model are discussed. This research mainly focuses on how accurate and efficient the models can predict the transverse shear. It starts with displacement-based theories from very basic models such as Classical laminate plate theory to more complicated and higher-order shear defor- mation theory. Models are furthermore categorised by how the models consider the overall laminate. In this article, the theories are divided into two parts: Single layer theory, where the whole plate is considered as one layer; and Layerwise theory, where each layer is treated separately. The models based on zig-zag and Discrete Theories are then reviewed, and finally the mixed (hybrid) plate theories are studied. Introduction The demand for high-strength, high-modulus and low- density industrial materials has generated an increased number of applications for fibre laminated composite structures in many different fields such as in submarines, sport equipment, medical instruments, civil engineering, enabling technologies, primary and secondary marine and aerospace structures, astronavigation and many more industries [1]. Composite constructions are usually multi- layer produced structures, mostly made of flat and curved panels, built up from several layers or laminae, which are bonded together [2]. During the last half century, the use of composite materials has grown rapidly. These materials are ideal for structural applications that require high strength and low weight. They have good fatigue characteristics and are resistant to corrosion. They provide some flexibility in design through the variation of the fibre orientation or stacking sequence of fibre and matrix materials [3, 4]. Another advantage of fibre laminate composites is their capability to design the physical structure and mechanical properties before manufacture. The mechanical behaviour of laminates strongly depends on the orientation of fibres and thickness of lamina. Accordingly, the lamina should be designed to satisfy the specific requirements of each par- ticular application to obtain the maximum advantages from the directional properties of materials. Accurate and effi- cient structural analysis, design sensitivity analysis and optimisation procedures for size and shape, and the ori- entation of fibres within the material are also required. This provides a good opportunity to tailor the material proper- ties to the specific application [5, 6]. The normal stresses and through-thickness distributions of transverse shear for composite materials are important Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10853-012-6329-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. R. Khandan (&) Á S. Noroozi Á P. Sewell Á J. Vinney School of Design, Engineering and Computing, Bournemouth University, Poole, Dorset, UK e-mail: ras_khandan@yahoo.com 123 J Mater Sci (2012) 47:5901–5910 DOI 10.1007/s10853-012-6329-y