Bending of Kirchhoff-Love plates[edit]

Forces and moments on a flat plate.

In the KirchhoffLove plate theory for plates the governing equations are
[1]
and
In expanded form
and
!here is an applied transverse load per unit area the thic"ness of the plate is the
stresses are and
#he quantity has units of force per unit length. #he quantity has units of moment per unit
length.
For isotropic homogeneous plates !ith $oung%s modulus and &oisson%s ratio these equations
reduce to
[']
!here is the deflection of the mid(surface of the plate.
In rectangular )artesian coordinates