Analysis of Simply Supported Thick, Layered Plates

This paper is an extension of the finite strip method, which has been found to be ideally suitable for small computers for the analysis of slabs and folded plates. In this approach, the three-dimensional problem is reduced to a one-dimensional problem by selecting orthogonal displacement function series which satisfy the prescribed boundary conditions in the x,y-plane, while in the z-direction, a polynomial with undetermined coefficient is used. The element presented here is developed for rectangular plates with simply supported edges, and work on elements with other boundary conditions are in progress. Tables for different cases of thick plates will be prepared once the remaining boundary conditions are solved.