The Behavior of Long Thin Rectangular Plates under Normal Pressure-A Thorough Investigation.

Thin rectangular plates are considered basic structures in various sectors like aerospace, civil, and mechanical engineering. Moreover, isotropic and laminated composite plates subjected to transverse normal loading and undergoing small and large deflections have been extensively studied and published in the literature. Yet, it seems that the particular case of long thin plates having a high aspect ratio appears to be almost ignored by various scholars despite its engineering importance. The present study tries to fill this gap, yielding novel findings regarding the structural behavior of long thin plates in the small- and large-deflection regimes. In contrast to what is normally assumed in the literature, namely that a long plate with a high aspect ratio can be considered an infinitely long plate, the present results clearly show that the structural effects of the ends continue to exist near the remote ends of the long plate. An innovative finding is that long plates would (only on movable boundary conditions for the large-deflection regime) exhibit a larger mid-width displacement in comparison with deflections of infinitely long plates. This innovative higher deflection appears for both small and large-deflection regimes for both all-around simply supported and all-around clamped boundary conditions. This new finding was shown to be valid for both isotropic and orthotropic materials and presents a novel engineering approach for the old assumption well quoted in the literature that a relatively long plate on any boundary condition can be considered an infinite plate. Based on the present research, it is recommended that this assumption should be used carefully as the largest plate mid-deflection might occur at finite aspect ratios.

Innovative Insights on the Thin Square Plate Large Deflection Problem.

Thin plates subjected to transverse load and undergoing large deflections have been widely studied and published in the literature. However, there is still a lack of information and understanding about the membrane stresses created under large deflections and their associated Airy stress function, as displayed in the well-known von Kármán equations set. The present study aims at providing explicit expressions for the membrane stresses, the deflections, and the Airy stress function for a general square plate area vertically uniformly loaded to reach large deflection state. This was obtained by using the results of a high-fidelity finite element analysis applied on a lateral loaded simply supported thin square plate, which are then casted to yield approximate Fourier series expressions for the membrane stresses, deflections, and the Airy stress function. The stress map figures provide a good understanding of the critical points on the plate, while the explicit mathematical expressions enabled the calculation of deflections and stresses for the entire plate area. Among other interesting findings, the presence of relatively high tensile and compressive membrane stresses existing near the plate edges was revealed, which might lead to potential failure hazards. The derivatives of the deflections and the Airy stress function enabled the validation of the large deflections von Kármán equations set for the investigated case, and it turned out that the generated expressions for the stresses and the lateral deflection based on a high-fidelity finite element model satisfy the second equation with a good accuracy, while the first one remains to further be investigated. Moreover, using the generated explicit equations, the load influence on the deflections and stresses was also analyzed to yield general novel expressions for the medium and very large deflections states. To generalize the investigated case, the stresses and the deflections were non-dimensionalized so they can be used for any material and plate dimensions.

Multiwall Rectangular Plates under Transverse Pressure-A Non-Linear Experimental and Numerical Study.

Large deflection of rectangular plates under transverse pressure is described by Föppl-von Kármán equations, which have only approximated solutions. One of these methods is the separation into a small deflection plate and a thin membrane described by a simple third order polynomial expression. The present study presents an analysis to obtain analytical expressions for its coefficients by using the plate's elastic properties and dimensions. To validate the non-linear relationship between the pressure and the lateral displacement of the multiwall plate, a vacuum chamber loading test is used to measure the plate's response, with a large number of plates and length-width combinations. In addition, to further validate the analytical expressions, several finite element analyses (FEA) were performed. It has been found that the polynomial expression fairly describes the measured and calculated deflections. This method allows the prediction of plate deflections under pressure as soon as the elastic properties and the dimensions are known.

Large Deflections of Thin-Walled Plates under Transverse Loading-Investigation of the Generated In-Plane Stresses.

Thin-walled plates subjected to transverse loading undergoing large deflection have been the topic of a large number of studies. However, there is still a lack of information about the nature and the distribution membrane stresses generated under large deflections. The purpose of this paper is to calculate and display the distribution of the generated stresses and the respective deflections on the entire rectangular plate area. Finite element analysis results for thin-walled plates with aspect ratios of 1, 2 and 5, on movable and immovable edges simply supported and clamped boundary conditions are clearly visualized. The distribution of the normal and shear stresses enables a good understanding of the plate critical points locations. It was found that strong tensile and compressive membrane stresses exist at various points near the plate edges, creating potential failure hazards.