Analysis of clamped rectangular orthotropic plates subjected to a uniform lateral load

Abstract

The increasing use of composite materials for plate-type structures intensified the need for solutions of orthotropic plates. One problem of interest is the clamped rectangular plate with reinforcing fibers parallel to the plate boundaries. There is no exact analytical solution for this problem. The purpose of this paper was to derive a closed-form approximate solution of high accuracy, even for third derivatives (shearing forces). This was achieved by utilizing the extended Kantorovich method. It was found that the convergence of this procedure is very rapid, in that the final form is reached after only four iterations, and that the final form of the generated solution is independent of the initial choice. To establish the accuracy of this solution, it was numerically evaluated for a plate made of Kevlar 49 Epoxy, and the results obtained were compared with the corresponding results by Whitney [Structural Analysis of laminated Anisotropic Plates. Technomic, Lancaster; Pennsylvania (1987)], as well as with the exact solution for a clamped infinite strip. It was found that with increasing plate aspect ratios, the deflections and bending moments generated approached closely those of the infinite strip, but those of Whitney did not.