A few remarks concerning several refined theories of anisotropic composite laminated plates

An analysis and comparison of several shear deformable bending theories of composite laminated anisotropic plates currently encountered in the field literature are given in this paper. Although apparently different, it is shown in a unitary way, that these theories constitute in fact only different formulations of a single theory, generically designated to as the moderately thick plate theory. Their connection with the first order transverse shear deformation theory is also emphasized and some conclusions concerning its shortcomings and field applicability are presented.