Transverse Shearing Stress in Rectangular Plates

By means of the plate equations developed by Eric Reissner, the transverse shearing stresses in a thin, simply-supported, rectangular plate are determined. The load distribution may be defined by any function which can be represented by a double cosine series. The solution for uniform loading is discussed in detail. Experimental results obtained by the frozen-stress technique of photoelasticity are compared with the predictions of the Reissner theory and the classical theory. The boundary conditions used are the vanishing of deflection, bending moments, and twisting moments. The results show a marked difference between the two theories near the corner zones of the plate.