Abstract One important advantage of tailoring of fibre-reinforced laminated composites for structural design is the ability to change the

stiffness and strength properties by designing the stacking sequence according to the requirements for the improvement of performance. So, control over stiffness and strength of laminated composites offers greater design flexibility. One key feature of composite materials is that stiffness can be tailored according to the requirements. Usually fibre orientation angle is kept constant within each lamina of any composite structure. This results in constant stiffness of laminate. However, many composite structures, such as laminated composite plates with varying fibre paths, filament wound pressure vessels have variable stiffness. Curvilinear fibre path within each lamina of a laminate leads to variation of stiffness and hence helps in modification of load paths for getting favourable stress distributions. Consequently, laminate performance is improved. Stiffness variation in laminates can also be achieved through varying laminate composition, thickness and fibre volume fraction. In this research project, stiffness variation due to varying fibre paths has been considered. Fibre reinforced laminates with varying stiffness due to changing fibre path is termed as variable stiffness laminates. The wide range of applications of composite materials to engineering components necessitates the proper analysis of variable stiffness composite laminates and this requires an efficient tool for accurate modelling of laminates with variable stiffness. Analysis procedures of variable stiffness composites laminates with varying fibre paths can be performed through two different approaches - analytical-numerical approach and finite element (FE) method. Analytical-numerical approaches are limited to simple structures having only linear variation of fibre orientation angles. So analysis of variable stiffness laminates requires an alternative tool. In this respect, FE method has become an important and frequently indispensable part of engineering analysis and design. However, for the analysis of variable stiffness composite structures with varying fibre paths, currently available commercial finite element analysis packages use constant fibre angle within each element to approximate the continuously varying fibre paths in laminated composites structures. Approximation of varying fibre paths using constant fibre angle within an element results in discrete stiffness variation. Discrete variation of stiffness gives discontinuous stress and strain distribution in the laminate. So in designing consideration, prediction of the strength of laminate will be difficult. Therefore, stiffness variation within each element should be considered in the analysis. This necessitates the development of a new finite element formulation that will be able to consider stiffness variation even within an element due to changing fibre paths with different variations, such as linear, circular arc variation and variation based on higher order functions. One of the most common structural elements is plate. So this research project is intended to develop a plate element at first that can accurately approximate the varying fibre paths of the laminated composite plate and incorporate the stiffness variation within an element. The finite element formulation for plate element will be modified to get a higher order finite element formulation. Higher order approximation function for the variation of the fibre orientation angles within an element will be used. After validation of the developed finite element formulation using theoretical solutions for some known cases, this element formulation will be used to analyse a laminated composite plate with variable fibre path around a hole. Finally, the developed higher order element formulation will be applied for analysis of laminated composite structures, such as filament wound pressure vessels, 3D braided textile composites.