Large Deflections of Rectangular Orthotropic Plates under Combined Transverse and In-Plane Loads

Abstract

A theoretical analysis is presented for the problem of simply supported, rectangular, orthotropic plates undergoing large deflections due to the combined action of uniform transverse pressure and compressive in-plane loading. The solution of the von Kármán-type large deflection equations is obtained in the form of double series consisting of appropriate beam functions for the lateral deflection and the stress function. Numerical results are obtained for three types of fibre–reinforced composite plates with different values of aspect ratio. The effect of the material properties on the deflection and stresses is discussed. The results in the case of isotropic plates are in good agreement with the available solutions.