Deflection of sandwich plates in terms of corresponding Kirchhoff plate solutions

Abstract

This study presents exact relationships between the deflections of isotropic sandwich plates and their corresponding Kirchhoff plates. The governing equilibrium equations for the sandwich plates are derived on the basis of the Reissner-Mindlin shear deformation plate theory. The considered plates are either (i) simply supported, of general polygonal shape and under any transverse loading condition or (ii) simply supported and clamped circular plates under axisymmetric loading. As the relationships are exact under the assumptions used in the plate theories, one may obtain exact deflection solutions of sandwich plates if the Kirchhoff plate solutions are exact. The relationships should also be useful for the development of approximate formulas for plates with other shapes, boundary and loading conditions, and may serve to check numerical deflection values computed from sandwich plate analysis software.