Influence Functions of a Point Force for Multiply Connected Kirchhoff Plates

Abstract

A modified version of the classical method of functional equations is developed for accurate evaluation of the response to a transverse point concentrated force for multiply connected Kirchhoff plates. The resolving potentials are built, in this version, with the aid of Green functions of the biharmonic equation for regions of standard shape. The importance of having readily computable representations of such Green functions is emphasized. Since the observation and the source points in the resolving potentials occupy different sets, the boundary value problems to consider reduce to some functional (integral) equations with relatively smooth kernels. It is shown that not only the deflection function, but also the stress components caused by a transverse point force, are accurately computable within this approach.