Influence of Boundary Conditions on Decay Rates in a Prestrained Plate1

Abstract

Decay of end perturbations imposed on a prestrained semi-infinite rectangular plate is investigated in the context of plane-strain incremental finite elasticity. A separation of variables eigenfunction formulation is used for the perturbed field within the plate. Numerical results for the leading decay exponent are given for three hyperelastic materials with various boundary conditions at the long faces of the plate. The study exposes a considerable sensitivity of axial decay rates to boundary data, to initial strain and to constitutive behavior. It is suggested that the results are relevant to the applicability of Saint-Venant’s principle even though the eigenfunctions are not always self-equilibrating.