A Numerical Approach to the Simplified Laminate Theory of Composite Materials: The Composite Laminate Analysis Tool―CLAT 1D

A typical approach to treat composite materials, which are composed of layered unidirectional lamina, is the so-called classical laminate theory (CLT). This theory is based on the theory for plane elasticity elements and classical (shear-rigid) plate elements under the assumption of orthotropic constitutive equations. The solution of the fundamental equations of the classical laminate theory is connected with extensive matrix operations and many problems require in addition iteration loops.