The Inclusion of Shear Deformations in a Plate Bending Boundary Element Algorithm

A plate bending formulation for thick and thin plates is considered. No ad hoc assumptions are made to derive the plate formulation for the inclusion of shear deformations. The given representation of the plate displacements ensures a priori the satisfaction of both the three-dimensional Navier-equations and the stress boundary conditions on the upper and lower plate faces. The use of the formulation for boundary element calculations is discussed and an example is shown how a symmetric stiffness matrix can be obtained with the aid of boundary integrals. The numerical results are compared with an exact three-dimensional solution.