Stability of variable thickness shear deformable plates - first order and high order analyses

This work presents analysis of the buckling loads for thick elastic rectangular plates with variable thickness and various combinations of boundary conditions. Both the first order and high order shear deformation plate theories have been applied to the plate's analysis. The effects of higher order nonlinear strain terms (curvature terms) are considered as well. The governing equations and the boundary conditions are derived using the principle of minimum of potential energy. The solution is obtained by the extended Kantorovich method. This approach is combined with the exact element method for the stability analysis of compressed members with variable cross-section, which provides for the derivation of the exact stiffness matrix of tapered strips including the effect of in-plane forces. The results from the two shear deformation theories are compared with those obtained by the classical thin plate's theory and with published results. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.