Tilting stiffness of elastic layers bonded between rigid plates

Abstract A theoretical approach to determine the tilting stiffness of an elastic layer bonded between rigid plates is presented and then applied to derive the formulae of tilting stiffness for layers of infinite-strip, circular and square shapes. Based on two kinematics assumptions, the governing equations for the mean pressure are established from the equilibrium equations and the bulk modulus equation. Satisfying the stress boundary conditions, the pressure functions are solved and the formulae for tilting stiffness are derived. The tilting stiffnesses calculated from these formulae are extremely close to the results obtained from the finite element method for an extensive range of shape factor and Poissons ratio.