Simplified Method For Plate Deflection Calculation

Abstract

This paper presents a simplified method for the calculation of thin-plate deflections. The method, which deals with uniformly loaded plates, uses the stiffness method to obtain plate deflection equations for specified boundary conditions. A case study was presented in order to demonstrate the use of the proposed method and to illustrate its capabilities. The results obtained were in close agreement with those obtained analytically and with those obtained using the finite element methods. Finally, a user-friendly program for plate deflection calculations based on the proposed method was developed using the mathematical package MATHCAD.