A multi-layered composite material may, for some purposes, be regarded as a continuum. A material consisting of alternate layers of two materials and loaded in one direction only is looked at from this standpoint; one material, of high elastic moduli, is assumed to take the tensile loads and the other, of low moduli, accommodates the shear strains. It is shown that the governing equation can be reduced to the Laplace equation. Two examples, where simple analytical solutions are obtainable, are examined; one is the stress distribution round a crack, the other is the stress distribution in a tensile specimen.
