Stability of Rectangular Plates Under Shear and Bending Forces

Abstract

Abstract The author first discusses the problem of a plane, simply supported rectangular plate loaded by shearing forces in the plane of the plate on all four edges. There are two stiffeners attached one third and two thirds of the way along the plate. The critical load is calculated for various stiffener rigidities. Also, the rigidity necessary to keep the stiffeners straight when the plate buckles is found. This stiffener rigidity is found to be slightly larger than that necessary for a plate with one stiffener and the same panel dimensions as the plate with two stiffeners. The second problem discussed by the author is that of a plane, simply supported rectangular plate loaded by uniformly distributed edge shearing forces in the plane of the plate and linearly distributed tension and compression in the plane of the plate at the ends. The end forces vary from tension hσo, at one corner to—hσo, at the other corner, so that their resultant is a bending moment. The presence of the edge shearing forces is found to diminish the critical bending stress in this case. Calculations are made for various magnitudes of bending and shearing forces for plates of various proportions.