Equivalent homogeneous finite element for composite materials via reissner principle. Part I: Finite element for plates

The stiffness matrix in the finite element method for multi‐layered materials is generally computed by expressing the strain energy in each layer and adding them together. In order to lower the computing time, which may be prohibitive if the number of layers is high, and to get accurate information on the stresses, especially on transverse shear stresses, we present a new finite element using the Reissner principle. In the first part the case of plates will be detailed: extensions to shell problems will be presented in the second part. The efficiency of the method is tested on a special analytic solution, and some examples are given.