Deflection and stress analysis of orthotropic plates in flexure

A finite difference (FD) method is developed for computing deflections and stresses in rectangular orthotropic plates subjected to transverse flexural loadings. The plate material is elastic with symmetry axes parallel to the plate edges, and plate deflections are assumed to be small. The FD equations are solved iteratively using successive over relaxation techniques. The numerical procedure converges rapidly and is simple enough to be implemented in a minicomputer program for the design analysis of composite plates. As an example the program is applied to the analysis of simply supported and clamped square plates under uniform pressure or point loads, and the effect of material anisotropy on plate behaviour is discussed.