A PERTURBATION FINITE STRIP APPROACH FOR STATIC ANALYSIS OF NON-PRISMATIC PLATE ASSEMBLIES

An extension of the finite strip method for the static analysis of non-prismatic plate assemblies is presented. A perturbation technique is proposed to expand the displacement vector in terms of a suitable parameter. The formulation is specialized to changes in the thickness of the plates in the longitudinal direction. These changes are represented by a function and its amplitude, and the latter is taken as the perturbation parameter. The solution is obtained from a set of linear systems, of wich the first is associated to the prismatic problem (constant thickness). The response is calculated not only for a given value of thickness change, but for a whole range of amplitude variation. Numerical results are included to illustrate the accuracy of the solution and the number of systems of perturbation equations necessary for convergence.