Nonlinear Analysis of Clamped Circular Plates

Abstract

The integral collocation method (ICM) is used to analyze large deflected circular plates with clamped (radially held and not held) outer edge under uniform pressure. The ICM has been completely computerized with automatic precision control and exhibits excellent results for the aforementioned plates. Convenient formulas have been derived using the least squares method, following an evaluation of many solutions of Von Karman's equations. Critical values of fiber stresses and deflections are presented in numerical and graphical form. For confirming the validity and usefulness of the proposed formulation, comparisons are made with existing formulas. The comparative study shows a significant discrepancy in stresses; however, a good agreement is shown in deflections. The proposed computational technique presents lower stresses in the midplate and higher stresses at the edge of the plate than the existing formulas. However, results show that the edge stresses are always higher than the midplate stresses in both methods. Further confirmations are made by comparison with the finite element results. Results of the comparison indicate that the proposed formulas produce more exact results than the existing formulas.