Analyzing stress in thin plates
Analyzing stress in thin plates
(OP)
Let's say I have a thin plate in flexure. I have seen engineers at me job use regular Sigma=M/S, as well as plate theory.
We have several books on plate theory, but the process is rather complicated, and I can't always use the pre-derived formulas since our stuff is always oddly loaded/complex. How accurate is use just M/S for thin plates?
We have several books on plate theory, but the process is rather complicated, and I can't always use the pre-derived formulas since our stuff is always oddly loaded/complex. How accurate is use just M/S for thin plates?





RE: Analyzing stress in thin plates
So it depends on how thin is thin and how large your loads are. For a 1/4 inch plate spanning 8 inches, you're probably good. For a 20 gage plate spanning 30 inches, you got issues.
RE: Analyzing stress in thin plates
As to the acceptability- if it's small one-off items made of carbon steel, it may be cheaper to increase the thickness than to do a more sophisticated analysis.