Exact solution of bending problem of clamped orthotropic rectangular thin plates

Abstract

The generalized integral transform technique (GITT) is employed to obtain an exact solution for the bending problem of fully clamped orthotropic rectangular thin plates. The use of the GITT approach in the analysis of the transverse deflection equation leads to a coupled system of fourth order differential equations (ODEs) in the dimensionless longitudinal spatial variable. The resulting transformed ODE system is then numerically solved by making use of the subroutine DBVPFD from IMSL Library. Numerical results with automatic global accuracy control are obtained for different values of aspect ratio. Critical comparisons with previously reported numerical results are performed with excellent agreement. A set of reference results for clamped orthotropic rectangular plates is also provided for future covalidation purposes, which are verified by those obtained from the general-purpose finite element software package ABAQUS.