Analysis of moderately thick restrained circular plates resting on an isotropic elastic half space

Abstract

Circular raft foundations for cylindrical structures such as nuclear reactors, tower silos, and storage tanks are often analyzed as circular plates resting on an elastic half space. Two important features that are commonly ignored in the analysis are the restraint at the plate boundary due to the rigidity of the superstructure and the effect of transverse shear deformation on the response of the plate. A mixed-variational formulation is developed herein to analyze a moderately thick restrained circular plate resting on an isotropic elastic half space. In this formulation the transverse plate deflection, the bending moments, and the shear force are treated as independent functions and are approximated by power series in terms of the radial coordinate and a set of undetermined parameters. These parameters are evaluated by utilizing the stationary property of the mixed-variational functional. Numerical results are presented for various plate rigidities and edge restraints. The effect of transverse shear deformation on the plate deflection and bending moments is investigated.