Science in China Series E: Technological Sciences

2009
SCIENCE IN CHINA PRESS

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Three-dimensional elasticity solution of simplesupported rectangular plate on point supports, line supports and elastic foundation
XU YePeng1 & ZHOU Ding2
1 2

School of Science, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China; College of Civil Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing 210009, China

This paper studies the bending of simple-supported rectangular plate on point supports, line supports and elastic foundation. On the basis of three-dimensional elasticity theory, the exact expressions of the displacement functions, which satisfy the governing differential equations and the simply supported boundary conditions at four edges of the plate, are analytically derived. The reaction forces of the intermediate supports are regarded as the unknown external forces acting on the lower surface of the plate. The unknown coefficients are then determined by the boundary conditions on the upper and lower surfaces of the plate. Comparing the numerical results obtained from the proposed method to those obtained from Kirchhoff plate theory, Mindlin plate theory and those obtained from the commercial finite element software ANSYS, the high accuracy of the present method has been demonstrated.
rectangular plate, point support, line support, elastic foundation, displacement, stress, three-dimensional elasticity solution

Plates are widely used as structural elements in aerospace, mechanical and civil engineering. In practical projects, the intermediate supports, such as elastic foundation, elastic/rigid point-supports and line-supports in one or two directions, may be used to improve the load-bearing capacity of the plates. Therefore, investigating the effect of intermediate supports on the mechanical properties of plates has significance in actual engineering. A great deal of investigations have been carried out on rectangular plates. Zhou[1] presented an analytical solution of transverse vibration of rectangular plates simply supported at two opposite edges with arbitrary number of elastic line supports in one way. Liu and Wang[2] analyzed the bending problem of anisotropic rectangular plates with four free edges on an elastic foundation. Sun et al.[3] worked out the general analytic solution for a thick plate on biparametric foundation. Zhou and Cheung[4] investigated free vibration of line-supported rectangular plates using a set of static beam functions. Cheung and Zhou[5] studied free vibra-

tion of rectangular unsymmetrically laminated composite plates with internal line supports. Zhou and Ji[6] developed free vibration of rectangular plates with internal column supports. Zhou[7] further developed vibration of point-supported rectangular plates with variable thickness using a set of static tapered beam functions. Recently, Xu and Zhou[8] presented the three-dimensional elasticity solution for simply supported rectangular plates with variable thickness. In the present study, the exact expressions of the displacement functions, which satisfy the governing differential equations and the simply supported boundary conditions at four edges of the plate, are analytically derived basis on the three-dimensional elasticity theory. The unknown coefficients are determined by the boundary conditions on the upper and lower surfaces of the
Received September 19, 2008; accepted November 5, 2008 doi: 10.1007/s11431-009-0048-x Corresponding author (email: [email protected]) Supported by the Innovation Foundation of Nanjing University of Science and Technology for PhD Graduates

Sci China Ser E-Tech Sci | Mar. 2009 | vol. 52 | no. 3 | 584-589

plate. The proposed three-dimensional elasticity solution can be used to assess the validity of various approximate plate theories, such as Kirchhoff plate theory and Mindlin plate theory.

For an elastic body in the absence of body forces, the differential equations of equilibrium can be written in terms of displacements as follows
2u 2u 2u 2v 2 w ( 2 G ) G G ( G ) ( G ) + + + + + + + = 0, xy xz x 2 y 2 z 2 2v 2v 2v 2u 2 w +( +G) = 0, ( + 2G) 2 +G 2 +G 2 +( +G) xy yz y x z 2 2 2 2 2 ( +2G) w +G w +G w +( +G) u +( +G) v =0. xz yz z 2 x 2 y 2

Basic equations

Consider a rectangular plate with length a, width b and thickness H. The upper surface of the plate is subject to transverse loading q(x, y). The lower surface of the plate may be under the action of elastic foundation, elastic/rigid point supports and line supports in one or two directions. In the Cartesian coordinate system, the three-dimensional constitutive relations of an isotropic elastic body are given as follows

(2) For a rectangular plate simply supported at four edges, the boundary conditions are simulated by

u v w x = ( + 2G ) x + y + z , u v xy = G + , y x v u w + , y = ( + 2G ) + y x z = G v + w , yz z y = ( + 2G ) w + u + v , z z x y u w xz = G z + x ,

x = v = w = 0, at x = 0, a, y = u = w = 0, at y = 0, b,

(3)

where a and b are the length and width of the plate, respectively. Assume that the displacement distributions have the following form: (1)
mx ny u = U mn ( z ) cos a sin b , m =1 n =1 mx ny cos , v = Vmn ( z )sin a b m =1 n =1 mx ny w = Wmn ( z )sin sin , a b m =1 n =1

(4)

Where and G are the Lame constants for a homogeneous and isotropic material, which are expressed in the terms of Youngs modulus E and the Poissons ratio by E E = and G = . (1 + )(1 2 ) 2(1 + )

where Umn (z), Vmn (z) and Wmn (z) are the unknown functions about the coordinate z. It can be seen that eq. (4) exactly satisfies eq. (3). Letting mn = m 2 2 / a 2 + n 2 2 / b 2 and substituting eq. (4) into eq. (2) leads to the solutions of u, v, w. as

mz amn z mz amn z mx ny e Cmn e Dmn + eamn z Emn + e amn z Fmn cos sin , u = n b a a a b m =1 n =1 mn mn + 3G n 2 2 z amn z amn z amn z v = + e A e B mn mn mn mn + G + b 2 e Cmn m =1 n =1 mn + 3G n 2 2 z amn z m amn z m amn z mx ny + D e E e F cos , e sin mn mn mn + G b 2 a a a b mn w = n e amn z Amn + e amn z Bmn + zeamn z Cmn + ze amn z Dmn sin mx sin ny , b m =1 n =1 a b

(5)

where Amn, Bmn, Cmn, Dmn, Emn, Fmn are unknown coefficients.

Substituting eq. (5) into eq. (1), one has

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XU YePeng et al. Sci China Ser E-Tech Sci | Mar. 2009 | vol. 52 | no. 3 | 584-589

 2 G mx ny m 2 2 z mn z x = n sin sin + 2 e Cmn b m =1 n =1 a b + G a mn m 2 2 z mn z m mn z m mn z + + + e D e E e F , mn mn mn 2 a a + G a mn 2 2 2G mx ny 2 + 3G n z mn z sin mn e mn z Amn mn e mn z Bmn + + 2 y = n sin e Cmn b m =1 n =1 a b + G b mn 2 2 m mn z m mn z 2 + 3G n z mn z e D e E e F , + mn mn mn 2 a a b mn +G mx ny G = 2G mn e mn z Amn mn e mn z Bmn + + mn z e mn z Cmn n sin a sin b z b m =1 n =1 G + G + mn z e mn z Dmn , +G m mx ny m mn z m mn z 2mz mn z = G Amn + Bmn + + sin e e n cos e Cmn xz b m =1 n =1 a b a a a mn a m 2mz mn z Dmn + mn e mn z Emn mn e mn z Fmn , e a a mn n2 2 mx ny n 2 2 z 2 2 z yz = G cos ( 2 + mn )e mn Amn + 2 + mn e mn Bmn sin a b m =1 n =1 b b n 2 2 2n 2 2 z mn z n 2 2 2n 2 2 z mn z + 3G + 3G e C Dmn mn + 2 + + + e mn mn b mn b2 b 2 mn b2 +G +G m m mn e mn z Emn + mn e mn z Fmn , a a mx ny m m mn z = G cos cos Amn mn e mn z Bmn a mn e xy a b a m =1 n =1 2 3 + 3G m 2mn z mn z + 3G m 2mn 2 3 z mn z C Dmn e + + + mn +G a + G a ab 2 e ab 2 mn mn n 2 2 m 2 2 mn z n 2 2 m 2 2 mn z E e Fmn . + + 2 2 e mn 2 2 a a b b

(6)

2 Boundary conditions and the solution of equations

The boundary conditions on the upper surface of the plate can be written as z = 0 : z = q ( x, y ), xz = 0, yz = 0. (7) There are three types of the boundary conditions on the lower surface of the plate. 1) The plate is on the elastic foundation. The boundary conditions can be written as
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z = H : z = Kw( x, y, H ), xz = 0, yz = 0,

(8)

where K is the foundation stiffness. 2) The plate is on the elastic line supports perpendicular to the x axis. The boundary conditions can be written as

z = H : z = [ Kw ( x, Yi , H ) ( y Yi )] ,
i =1

xz = 0, yz = 0,

(9)

where K is the stiffness of the ith line-support, S is the

XU YePeng et al. Sci China Ser E-Tech Sci | Mar. 2009 | vol. 52 | no. 3 | 584-589

number of the elastic line supports and Yi is the abscissa position of the ith elastic line support. (yYi) is the Dirac function, which can be expanded to Fourier sinusoidal series, namely

3 Numerical examples and precision analysis

In the following numerical studies, the Poissons ratio is fixed at = 0.3. In order to verify the accuracy of the proposed method, the convergence of the present solutions is studied at first. Consider a rectangular plate with a=10 m, b=10 m and H=1 m. The upper surface of the plate is subject to the uniform load q in the z direction. The lower surface of the plate is under the action of a line support in the x direction at y = b/2. Three different stiffness coefficients of the line support Ka/E=0, Ka/E=1 and Ka/E=106 have been checked, which represent the cases of no line support, an elastic line support and a rigid line support, respectively. Table 1 gives the convergence of displacements at the point x=3, y=4, z=0. It can be seen from Table 1 that the results when N=40 are accurate up to the third significant digit. Therefore, all the series terms are fixed at N=40 in the following numerical calculations.
Table 1 The convergence of displacements of rectangular plate with four edges simple supported on a line support Ka/E N uE/(qH) vE/(qH) wE/(qH) 0 20 37.003 16.200 361.69 30 37.003 16.200 361.71 40 37.003 16.200 361.70 1 20 18.545 7.9634 193.76 30 18.546 7.9634 193.78 40 18.546 7.9634 193.77 1000000 20 0.8903 0.3971 0.1639 30 0.9115 0.3968 0.1639 40 0.9111 0.3969 0.1638

( y Yi ) = sin

2 n =1 b

nYi ny sin . b b

(10) The

3) The plate is on the elastic point supports. boundary conditions can be written as
S

z = H : z = [ Kw( X i , Yi , H ) ( x X i ) ( y Yi )] ,
i =1

xz = 0, yz = 0,

(11)

where K is the stiffness of the ith point-supports, S is the number of the elastic point supports and (Xi, Yi) is the position of the ith elastic point support. (x Xi) and (y Yi) are the Dirac functions, which can be expanded to Fourier sinusoidal series as follows
mX i 2 mx = ( x X ) sin sin , i a a m =1 a nYi ny 2 ( y Y ) = sin sin . i b b b n =1

(12)

Then the following algebraic equations in the matrix form can be obtained by considering the compatibility of the boundary equations on the upper and lower surfaces of the plate
S11 (mn) S (mn) 21 S31 (mn) S41 (mn) S51 (mn) S61 (mn) S12 (mn) S22 (mn) S32 (mn) S42 (mn) S52 (mn) S62 (mn) S13 (mn) S23 (mn) S33 (mn) S43 (mn) S53 (mn) S63 (mn) S14 (mn) S24 (mn) S34 (mn) S44 (mn) S54 (mn) S64 (mn) S15 (mn) S25 (mn) S35 (mn) S45 (mn) S55 (mn) S65 (mn) S16 (mn) S26 (mn) S36 (mn) S46 (mn) S56 (mn) S66 (mn)

Amn Q1 (mn) B Q (mn) mn 2 Cmn Q3 (mn) = . Dmn Q4 (mn) Emn Q5 (mn) Fmn Q6 (mn)

(13)

Solving eq. (13), one can uniquely determine coeffcients A11,, ANN, B11,, BNN, C11,, CNN, D11,, DNN, E11,, ENN and F11,, FNN. By substituting these coefficients into eqs. (5) and (6), the displacement and stress distributions of the plate can be obtained.

The present three-dimensional elasticity solutions are compared with the solutions of the Kirchhoff plate theory and the Mindlin plate theory in order to assess the validity and the scope of application of these approximate theories. Assume that the plate is on the elastic foundation and the foundation stiffness is taken as Ka/E = 0.01. The plane size of the plate is a=10 m and b=10 m. The upper surface of the plate is subject to a uniform load q in the z direction. The midpoint transverse displacement of the plate is calculated by using the three-dimensional elasticity theory, the Kirchhoff plate theory and the Mindlin plate theory, respectively. The shear correction factor = 5/6 is used in the Mindlin plate theory. Table 2 gives the results for different thicknesses of the plate. It can be seen from Table 2 that the relative error of the Kirchhoff plate theory to the three-dimensional elasticity solution is very small for thin
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XU YePeng et al. Sci China Ser E-Tech Sci | Mar. 2009 | vol. 52 | no. 3 | 584-589

Table 2 Comparison of the three-dimensional elasticity solutions with the solutions of the Kirchhoff plate theory and Mindlin plate theory H/a present Kirchhoff theory Error (%) Mindlin Error (%) 0.05 2099 2085 0.67 2088 0.51 0.10 354.2 344.3 2.80 350.8 0.96 0.15 87.67 80.75 7.89 85.00 3.04 0.20 31.01 26.77 13.7 29.42 5.12 0.25 14.24 11.15 21.7 12.91 9.31

plate (H/a = 0.05) and equals 2.8% for H/a = 0.10. However, with the increase of the plate thickness, the error of the Kirchhoff plate theory to the three-dimensional elasticity solution rapidly increases. When the thickness ratio H/a is equal to 0.20, the relative error from the Kirchhoff plate theory to the three-dimensional elasticity theory is 13.7%. Moreover, it can be seen from Table 2 that the relative error of the Mindlin plate theory to the three-dimensional elasticity solution is small for both thin plate (H/a = 0.05) and medium plate (H/a = 0.10). However, with the increase of the plate thickness, the error of the Mindlin plate theory to the three-dimensional elasticity solution rapidly increases. When the thickness ratio H/a is equal to 0.25, the relative error from the Mindlin plate theory to the three-dimensional elasticity theory is 9.31%. A 3-D finite element analysis using ANSYS has been carried out to verify the correctness of the present three-dimensional elasticity solution for rectangular plate with a central point support. The size of the plate is

a = 10 m, b = 10 m and H = 1 m. The stiffness of the point support is taken as Ka/E = 5. The shear stress yz and the displacements u at eleven points from the left to the right on the line x = a/2, z = H/4 are calculated and selected for comparisons, as given in Figure 1. It can be seen from Figure 1 that the present solutions closely agree with the FE solutions. The through-thickness displacements and stresses from the three-dimensional elasticity theory are compared with those from the Kirchhoff theory and the Mindlin theory. Assume that the rectangular plate is on the elastic foundation and the foundation stiffness is taken as Ka/E = 0.001. The sizes of the plate are a = 10 m, b = 10 m and H = 2 m. A uniform normal load q acts on the upper surface of the plate. Both the Kirchhoff solution and the Mindlin solution are based on minimization of the potential energy. Figure 2 gives the transverse displacement w at x = a/2, y = b/2 and the transverse shear stress xz at x = 0, y = b/2. It can be seen from Figure 2 that neither the Kirchhoff theory nor the Mindlin theory

Figure 1

Comparison of the three-dimensional elasticity solution with FE solution. (a) yz /q; (b) uE/(qH).

Figure 2 Comparison of the three-dimensional elasticity solutions with the classical thin plate theory and the moderately thick plate theory for a rectangular plate on elastic foundation. (a) wE/(qH) at x = a/2, y = b/2; (b) xz /q at x = 0, y = b/2. 588 XU YePeng et al. Sci China Ser E-Tech Sci | Mar. 2009 | vol. 52 | no. 3 | 584-589

can predict the non-linear phenomenon of displacements and stresses through the plate thickness. In fact, it is seen from eqs. (5) and (6) that both the displacements and the stresses are given by a linear sum of exponential functions about the thickness coordinate. Therefore, the warping phenomenon (a non-linear distribution of displacements with respect to the thickness coordinate) would be well described by the three-dimensional elasticity theory. However, in the Kirchhoff theory and the Mindlin theory, the linear in-plane displacements and stresses through the plate thickness are imposed. Also, the Kirchhoff theory neglects the effects of transverse shear stresses. The Mindlin theory assumes a uniform shear stress through the plate thickness. Therefore, a correction factor should be introduced into the shear stress resultant.

4 Conclusion
This paper studies the bending of simple-supported rectangular plate resting on point supports, line supports and
1 Zhou D. An analytical solution of transverse vibration of rectangular plates simply supported at two opposite edges with arbitrary number of elastic line supports in one way. Appl Math Mech, 1996, 17(8): 729734 2 Liu J Q, Wang K L. Bending problem of anisotropic rectangular plates with four free edges on elastic foundation (in Chinese). Chinese J Appl Mech, 2003, 20(3): 103106 3 Sun W M, Yang G S, Zhang C Z. General analytic solution for a thick plate on biparametric foundation (in Chinese). Eng Mech, 1999, 16(2): 7178 4 Zhou D, Cheung Y K. Free vibration of line supported rectangular plates using a set of static beam functions. J Sound Vib, 1999, 223(2):

elastic foundation. On the basis of three-dimensional elasticity theory, the general expressions of the displacement functions, which exactly satisfy the governing differential equations and the simply supported boundary conditions at four edges of the plate, are analytically derived. The reaction forces of the intermediate supports are regarded as the unknown external forces acting on the lower surface of the plate. The unknown coefficients are then determined by the boundary conditions on the upper and lower surfaces of the plate. Comparing the numerical results obtained from the proposed method to those obtained from Kirchhoff plate theory and Mindlin plate theory and to those obtained from the commercial finite element software ANSYS, the high accuracy of the present method has been demonstrated. As a conclusion, the method presented in this paper could be applicable in aerospace engineering and other projects with high accuracy demand such as the design of micro-mechanical apparatus.
231245[doi] 5 Cheung Y K, Zhou D. Free vibration of rectangular unsymmetrically laminated composite plates with internal line supports. Comput Struct, 2001, 79(21): 19231932[doi] 6 7 Zhou D, Ji T J. Free vibration of rectangular plates with internal column supports. J Sound Vib, 2006, 297(1): 146166[doi] Zhou D. Vibration of point-supported rectangular plates with variable thickness using a set of static tapered beam functions. Int J Mech Sci, 2002, 44(1): 149164[doi] 8 Xu Y P, Zhou D. Three-dimensional elasticity solution for simply supported rectangular plates with variable thickness. J Strain Anal Eng Des, 2008, 43(3): 165176[doi]

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