Bending Analysis of Stepped Rectangular Plates Resting on an Elastic Half-Space Foundation

In this paper, the bending behavior of rectangular plates with stepped thickness resting on an elastic half-space foundation is investigated through an analytic method. Combined with the bending theory of the rectangular thin and moderately thick plate, the stepped rectangular plate is divided into upper and lower plates, and the Fourier series is used to obtain the analytical solution of the deflection of the plate and the interaction force between the plate and foundation. The influence of the elastic modulus of the plate, plate theory, and the dimension of the plate on the deflection of the stepped rectangular plate is also discussed. The results show that the analytical solution is basically the same as the existing research results, and it is also verified by the analysis results of the models established by ABAQUS software. The deflection at the center of the stepped rectangular plate increases with the increase of the elastic modulus of the upper plate and the decrease of the side length of the upper plate, while the plate theory has little effect on the deflection of the plate. This method not only overcomes some of the disadvantages of numerical methods but also eliminates the assumptions of the Winkler foundation model and the two-parameter foundation model, thus obtaining a more reasonable and accurate bending performance of the stepped rectangular plate resting on the elastic half-space foundation.