448

Formulas for Stress and Strain

[CHAP. 11

the same uniform-thickness case using the average thickness; the

location and magnitude of maximum stress, however, did vary.
11.11

Effect of Large Deection; Diaphragm

Stresses

When the deflection becomes larger than about one-half the thickness,
as may occur in thin plates, the middle surface becomes appreciably
strained and the stress in it cannot be ignored. This stress, called
diaphragm stress, or direct stress, enables the plate to carry part of
the load as a diaphragm in direct tension. This tension may be
balanced by radial tension at the edges if the edges are held or by
circumferential compression if the edges are not horizontally
restrained. In thin plates this circumferential compression may
cause buckling.
When this condition of large deflection exists, the plate is stiffer
than indicated by the ordinary theory and the load-deflection and loadstress relations are nonlinear. Stresses for a given load are less and
stresses for a given deflection are generally greater than the ordinary
theory indicates.
Formulas for stress and deflection when middle
surface stresses are taken into account are given below. These formulas should be used whenever the maximum deflection exceeds half the
thickness if accurate results are desired. The following table gives the
necessary constants for the several loadings and support conditions
listed.
Let t thickness of plate; a outer radius of plate; q unit lateral
pressure; y maximum deflection; sb bending stress; sd
diaphragm stress; s sb sd maximum stress due to flexure and
diaphragm tension combined. Then the following formulas apply:
Circular plates.

y3
qa4
y

K
1
2
t
t
Et4

2
sa
y
y2

K
3
4
t
t
Et2

11:11-1
11:11-2

First solve for y in Eq. (11.11-1) and then obtain the stresses from
Eq. (11.11-2).
EXAMPLE
For the plate of Example 1 of Sec. 11.2, it is desired to determine the maximum
deflection and maximum stress under a load of 10 lb=in2.
Solution. If the linear theory held, the stresses and deflections would be
directly proportional to the load, which would indicate a maximum stress of
924010=3 30;800 lb=in2 and a maximum deflection of 0:088310=3

SEC.

11.11]

Flat Plates

449

0:294 in. Since this deflection is much more than half the thickness, Eqs.
(11.11-3) and (11.11-2) with the constants from case 1 in the table will be used
to solve for the deflection and stress. From Eq. (11.11-1), we obtain
y3
10104
1:016 y
0:376

6
4
3010 0:2 1  0:3 t
t

y
y3
2:0833 1:4514 0:376
t
t
Starting with a trial value for y somewhat less than 0.294 in, a solution is
found when y 0:219 in. From Eq. (11.11-2) the maximum stress is found to be
27,500 lb=in2.

Warshawsky (Ref. 3) fitted Eqs. (11.11-1) and (11.11-2) to the data

presented by Mah in Ref. 71, and cases 59 in the following table give
these results. Chia in Ref. 91 has a chapter on nonlinear bending of
isotropic nonrectangular plates in which he covers in great detail the
derivations, plotted results, and formulas similar to Eqs. (11.11-1) and
(11.11-2) for distributed loadings, concentrated center loads, applied
edge moments, and combined loadings for circular plates with various
boundary conditions. The uniformly loaded circular plate on an elastic
foundation is discussed and results presented for several boundary
conditions. He also treats annular plates, elliptical plates, and skew
plates under uniform loading. Reference 54 presents the results of a
study of the large deflections of clamped annular sector plates for
sector angles from 30 to 90
in steps of 30
and for ratios of inner to
outer radii from 0 to 0.6 in steps of 0.2.
Circular plates under distributed load producing large deections
Case no., edge condition

Constants
1:016
1n
1:238
K3
1n

1. Simply supported
(neither fixed nor
held). Uniform
pressure q over entire
plate.

K1

2. Fixed but not held

(no edge tension).
Uniform pressure
q over entire plate.

5:33
K1
1  n2

K2 0:376
K4 0:294
(Ref. 5)

(At center)
(At edge)

K2 0:857
2
1n
4
K3
1  n2
K3

K4 0:50
K4 0:0
(Ref. 5)

3. Fixed and held.

Uniform pressure q
over entire plate.

5:33
K1
1  n2
(At center)
(At edge)

2:6
K2
1  n2
2
K3
1n
4
K3
1  n2

K4 0:976
K4 1:73
(Refs. 15 and 16)