Summary: This article presents a free vibration analysis of laminated sandwich plates under various boundary conditions by using an efficient \(\mathrm{C}^0\) eight-node quadrilateral element. This new element is formulated based on the recently proposed layerwise model. The present model assumes an improved first-order shear deformation theory for the face sheets while a higher-order theory is assumed for the core maintaining an interlaminar displacement continuity. The advantage of this model relies on its number of variables is fixed, does not increase when increasing the number of lamina layers. This is a very important feature compared to the conventional layerwise models and facilitates significantly the engineering analysis. Indeed, the developed finite element is free of the shear locking phenomenon without requiring any shear correction factors. The governing equations of motion of the sandwich plate are derived via the classical Hamilton’s principle. Several examples covering the various features such as the effect of modular ratio, aspect ratios, core-to-face thickness ratio, boundary conditions, skew angle, number of layers, geometry and ply orientations are solved for laminated composites and sandwich plates. The obtained results are compared with 3D, quasi-3D, 2D analytical solutions, and those predicted by other advanced finite element models. The comparison studies indicate that the developed finite element model is of fast convergence to the reference and valid for both thick and thin laminated sandwich plates. Finally, it can be concluded that the present model is not only simple and accurate than the conventional ones, but also comparable with refined analytical solutions found in the literature.
{© 2021 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.}