BENDING OF CLAMPED RECTILINEAR PLATES

Abstract

It has recently been shown that the problem of the small deflection bending of a clemped plate can be simplified by a reduction to the variational solution of two successive membrane boundary value problems. The present paper uses this reduction to derive a solution which is strictly valid when the boundary is finite, simply connected and smooth - and which is also satisfactory in the engineering sense for many problems where the boundary is rectilinear. Particular attention is given to the irregular behaviour which generally occurs in the corners. A numerical example is considered and data are given for the clamped rhombus under a uniformly distributed load and under a central concentrated load.