Bending and buckling analysis of antisymmetric laminates using the moving least square differential quadrature method

In this paper, the moving least square differential quadrature (MLSDQ) method is employed to bending and buckling analysis of antisymmetric thick laminates based on the first-order shear deformation theory. The displacement and rotation components of the plate are independently assumed with the centered moving least square (MLS) approximation within each domain of influence. The weighting coefficients are associated with the nodal partial derivatives which are calculated through a fast computation procedure together with the MLS nodal shape functions. Numerical examples are illustrated to study the accuracy, stability and convergence of the MLSDQ method. Effects of support size, order of the complete basis functions and node irregularity on the numerical accuracy are investigated. Typical computational results of displacements, stresses and critical buckling loads of various laminated plates are presented and compared with the available exact and finite element solutions. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.