The large deflection dynamic plastic response of rectangular plates

By assuming a kinematically admissible, time-dependent velocity field and considering the global equilibrium of all the forces acting on each rigid segment during large deflection of a plate, a complete theoretical investigation is undertaken herein to trace the large deflection dynamic plastic response (including the transient phase) of simply-supported or fully-clamped rectangular plates. This procedure deduces two modifying factors ?₁ and ?₂ which reflect the effect of the membrane forces and are employed to formulate the governing equations in the case of large deflections. The present prediction of the final plate deflection coincides excellently with the corresponding experimental results for deflections up to 5–10 times the plate thickness. This theory greatly improves the estimates based on the bending-only theory and provides a new way to trace the transient phase of dynamically loaded plates when the effect of membrane forces is significant.