Finite Bending of Plates under Eccentric Edge Load

An analysis for the large deflection behavior of simply supported initially flat rectangular plates subjected to uniform edge compression having a slight eccentricity with respect to the middle surface of the plate is presented based on the solution of the von Karman large deflection equations of the plate. All the boundary conditions including those involving the normal bending moment at the loaded edges are exactly satisfied. The governing equations are reduced to a system of coupled nonlinear algebraic equations in terms of Fourier Coefficients which is solved by the Newton-Raphson Method. Numerical results for square plates are graphically presented to illustrate the effect of the load eccentricity on the bending of the plate.