Large Deflection of Rectangular Orthotropic Plates

A theoretical analysis is presented for the large deflection elastic behavior of clamped, uniformly loaded, rectangular, orthotropic plates. The governing differential equations including the nonlinear terms in the sense of von Karman are solved by the method of perturbation. This results in the predictions of the load deflection relations, and bending stresses are presented in the graphical form for glass-epoxy, boron-epoxy and graphite-epoxy plates having various aspect ratios. In the case of isotropic plates, the present solution reduces to two of the existing solutions.