Predictions of transverse deflections and in-plane strains in impulsively loaded thin plates (Q1088473)

This paper is an extension of earlier work [the authors, The deformation of thin plates subjected to impulse loading; in: Inelastic behaviour of plates and shells. L. Bevilacqua et. al. (eds.) (1986; Zbl 0593.00025] in which experimental and theoretical studies of thin circular, square and rectangular plates subject to transverse impulsive loading were presented. Of major interest in the experimental study was the range where the permanent displacement is large, up to 12 times the thickness of the plate. The theoretical model was based on a rigid-plastic membrane theory using the concept of the instantaneous mode approximation technique. Predicted transverse displacements agreed well with experimental data. However, it was assumed that points on the plane surface move only in the direction normal to the initial plane of the plate: as a consequence of that, in-plane membrane strains are incorrectly predicted. In this paper the mode approximation is modified by assuming that points on the plate surface move in a direction which is instantaneously normal to the current plate surface. The modified theory continues to give good predictions on the transverse displacement, and gives quite good estimates of in-plane strains.