Theory and Analysis of Structures 47-55
Orthotropic Plates
Plates of anisotropic materials have important applications owing to their exceptionally high bending
stiffness. A nonisotropic or anisotropic material displays direction-dependent properties. Simplest among
them are those in which the material properties differ in two mutually perpendicular directions. A
material so described is orthotropic, e.g., wood. A number of manufactured materials are approximated
as orthotropic. Examples include corrugated and rolled metal sheets, fillers in sandwich plate construc-
tion, plywood, fiber reinforced composites, reinforced concrete, and gridwork. The latter consists of two
systems of equally spaced parallel ribs (beams), mutually perpendicular and attached rigidly at the points
of intersection.
The governing equation for orthotropic plates, similar to that of isotropic plates Eq. (47.86), takes the
form
(47.87)
in which
The expressions for D
x
, D
y
, D
xy
, and G
xy
represent the flexural rigidities and the torsional rigidity of an
orthotropic plate, respectively. E
x
, E
y
, and G are the orthotropic plate moduli. Practical considerations
often lead to assumptions, with regard to material properties, resulting in approximate expressions for
elastic constants. The accuracy of these approximations is generally the most significant factor in the
orthotropic plate problem. Approximate rigidities for some cases that are commonly encountered in
practice are given in Fig. 47.41.
General solution procedures applicable to the case of isotropic plates are equally applicable to ortho-
tropic plates. Deflections and stress resultants can thus be obtained for orthotropic plates of different
shapes with different support and loading conditions. These problems have been researched extensively,
and solutions concerning plates of various shapes under different boundary and loading conditions may
be found in the references viz. Tsai and Cheron (1968), Timoshenko and Woinowsky-Krieger (1959),
Lee et al. (1971), and Shanmugam et al. (1988 and 1989).
47.6 Shells
Stress Resultants in Shell Element
A thin shell is defined as a shell with a relatively small thickness, compared with its other dimensions.
The primary difference between a shell and a plate is that the former has a curvature in the unstressed
state, whereas the latter is assumed to be initially flat. The presence of initial curvature is of little
consequence as far as flexural behavior is concerned. The membrane behavior, however, is affected
significantly by the curvature. Membrane action in a surface is caused by in-plane forces. These forces
may be primary forces caused by applied edge loads or edge deformations, or they may be secondary
forces resulting from flexural deformations.
In the case of the flat plates, secondary in-plane forces do not give rise to appreciable membrane action
unless the bending deformations are large. Membrane action due to secondary forces is, therefore,
neglected in small deflection theory. In the case of a shell which has an initial curvature, membrane
action caused by secondary in-plane forces will be significant regardless of the magnitude of the bending
deformations.
D
w
x
H
w
xy
D
w
y
q
xy
d
d
d
dd
d
d
4
4
4
22
4
4
2++=
D
hE
D
hE
HD G D
hE
G
hG
x
x
y
y
xy xy xy
xy
xy
===+= =
3
33
3
12 12
2
12 12
,, , ,