BEM of postbuckling analysis of thin plates

Abstract A new fundamental solution of deflection for plate buckling problems is first derived through the separation of in-plane stresses into an essential part and a disturbed part and by use of the resolution theorem of differential operator. A set of new boundary element formulas for the analysis of post-buckling problems of elastic plates are presented. On the basis of these formulas in-plane and out-of-plane displacements can be decoupled. The solution procedure for the boundary value problems of the in-plane displacement becomes very simple. Some examples of a circular plate are considered, and their results are in good agreement with the known ones. It appears that the proposed method is very effective for solving the postbuckling problem of plates with arbitrary geometry.