Finite Strip Method Analysis of Elastic Slabs

Rectangular elastic isotropic and orthotropic slabs for a variety of plate loadings and boundary conditions are analyzed by the finite strip method, in which a combination of trigonometric and hyperbolic series satisfying the boundary conditions in the longitudinal direction is used together with a simple polynomial function in the transverse direction. By using variational principles, the stiffness and load matrices of each strip are readily derived. The stiffness and load matrices for the whole slab are then assembled and solved to give the displacements, from which the moments can be calculated. Excellent accuracy has been achieved for various numerical examples using only a relatively small number of discrete computational variables. Beam-slab structures such as bridges should be readily amenable to the application of this method.