Large Deflections

Abstract

When deflections are not small compared to the thickness of the plate, coupling between bending action and midplane stretching results in nonlinear differential equations that can only be solved by approximate methods. The governing differential equations of this problem have been already derived in chapter 2. Any realistic approach to the stability problem of flat plates has to take into account the initial deviation from flatness existing in all practical applications. Although the buckling load and post-buckling strength remain essentially unaffected by the initial deviations, the load-deflection curve in the pre-buckling and buckling regions does depend on these deviations.