A mechanical model for the buckling of unilaterally constrained rectangular plates (Q1328714)

A mechanical model is described for the problem of buckling of unilaterally constrained, finite, rectangular plates. Due to the nature of the imposed constraint on the plate's lateral deflection, \(w\), solving for the buckling load requires the solution of a nonlinear partial differential equation in \(w\). While the plates are modeled by using the classical plate theory, the nonlinearity arises from the fact that the plates are attached to nonlinear elastic foundations exhibiting a deformation sign dependent force-displacement relationship. This feature is introduced to model the unilateral constraint. The influence of different boundary conditions, material orthotropy and transverse load distributions is investigated. For each case, the weak form of the governing differential equation is solved via the Galerkin method. Investigations of the buckling loads of rectangular plates attached to such foundations and subjected to a uniform inplane stress field show the validity of this approach for the cases investigated and compared to some previous exact results reported in the literature.