Large deflections of rectangular membranes under uniform pressure

Abstract The Foppl large deflection equations for laterally loaded membranes are solved for uniform load and for edges which are fixed normal to the edge but are free to move parallel to the edge. Both the deflection function and the Airy stress function are expanded in Fourier series. The resulting coupled non-linear cubic equations for the deflection function coefficients are truncated and solved by means of an iterative procedure. Results for the center normal deflection and the stress resultants at selected points are calculated with the use of 100 or more equations and are found to differ significantly from the previously accepted approximate results.