A dual reciprocity boundary element approach for the problems of large deflection of thin elastic plates

 A new numerical method, which is based on the dual reciprocity boundary element method, is developed for the large deflection of thin elastic plates whose behaviour is governed by von Kármán equations. In the proposed method, the nonlinear and coupled parts of von Kármán equations are transformed to a set of boundary integrals, and only are the boundary discretized into elements. Therefore, a `pure' boundary element approach for the problems of large deflection of thin elastic plates can be achieved. On the other hand, benefiting from the present method, the plate stresses can be calculated directly without integral and singularity. Several examples are given to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the present method. Received 11 October 1999