  In this paper, a novel and effective formulation based on isogeometric
approach (IGA) and Refined Plate Theory (RPT) is proposed to study the behavior
of laminated composite plates. Using many kinds of higher-order distributed
functions, RPT model naturally satisfies the traction-free boundary conditions
at plate surfaces and describes the non-linear distribution of shear stresses
without requiring shear correction factor (SCF). IGA utilizes the basis
functions, namely B-splines or non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS), which
achieve easily the smoothness of any arbitrary order. It hence satisfies the C1
requirement of the RPT model. The static, dynamic and buckling analysis of
rectangular plates is investigated for different boundary conditions. Numerical
results show high effectiveness of the present formulation.
