Three-Dimensional Elastic Stresses in Thick Plate : Comparison with Classical Plate Theory Solution

In order to estimate the error in the low- and high-order plate theories, three-dimensional elastic stress analysis of a thick plate is carried out. The problem treated here is the axisymmetric bending of a clamped circular plate subjected to an annularly distributed load. For this analysis, use is made of the indirect fictitious-boundary integral method. By the examination of the stress distributions in various thickness ratios, the applicability of the classical plate theory as the lowest-order plate theory is investigated and, further, one suggestion for the applicability of the high-order plate theories is presented.