Fourier series for polygonal plate bending: A very large plate element (Q1805257)

Using the Fourier series, an edge function approach is developed for boundary value problems on polygonal domains. The method is then applied to classical plate bending problems (in other work, the method has been extended to the moderate rotation equations for a shallow shell). Preliminary results indicate that the stability of a curved surface plays an important role in the morphogenesis of plates. For a polygonal plate with a convex domain, the Lévy-type solutions for each edge serve as a set of fundamental functions. The set is complete, and each member satisfies the equation exactly. The problem is solved by superimposing the solution functions and by matching the Fourier harmonics using prescribed boundary conditions. The process is much like the boundary element method, except that the unknown are the amplitudes of Fourier harmonics, rather than the weightings of individual point sources. An extra harmonic is added so that corner boundary conditions can be treated more efficiently. By this approach, a convex polygon is one element. Nonconvex domains, however, are divided into convex subdomains with appropriate continuity conditions at the interfaces. In this method no mesh generation is involved; the numbers of elements and degrees of freedom are significantly smaller than in the finite element or finite difference methods. The advantage over boundary elements is that the matrices are generally well-conditioned, and the approach is readily extended to shallow shells.