A plate is a
structural element
In structural engineering, structural elements are used in structural analysis to split a complex structure into simple elements (each bearing a structural load). Within a structure, an element cannot be broken down (decomposed) into parts of dif ...
which is characterized by a three-dimensional solid whose thickness is very small when compared with other dimensions.
The effects of the loads that are expected to be applied on it only generate stresses whose
resultants are, in practical terms, exclusively
normal to the element's thickness. Their mechanics are the main subject of the
plate theory.
Thin plates are initially flat structural members bounded by two parallel planes, called faces, and a cylindrical surface, called an edge or boundary. The generators of the cylindrical surface are perpendicular to the plane faces. The distance between the plane faces is called the thickness (h) of the plate. It will be assumed that the plate thickness is small compared with other characteristic dimensions of the faces (length, width, diameter, etc.). Geometrically, plates are bounded either by straight or curved boundaries. The static or dynamic loads carried by plates are predominantly perpendicular to the plate faces.
''Thin Plates and Shells: Theory: Analysis, and Applications''
Eduard Ventsel (2001) via Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...
. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
See also
* Shell
Shell may refer to:
Architecture and design
* Shell (structure), a thin structure
** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses
Science Biology
* Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...
* Bending of plates
References
* Stephen Timoshenko & S. Woinowsky-Krieger (1940,59) ''Theory of Plates and Shells'', McGraw-Hill Book Company.
Solid mechanics
Structural system
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