BENDING OF CIRCULAR PLATES

Consider a thin circular plate, radius R and thickness t, under

lateral pressure q , supported somehow around its circumference

O (Centre of Bending for Element dr)

 Rr
z

dr
q d
t
r

r
dr
R

Section Element


Rh

r = Rzr = z ddr
h = Rz = z r
h

Elemental Ring Strain-Displacement

Relations
From 3D Hooke's Law relations with z = 0:
E Ez
 d 

r = (r + h ) = +
1 2 1 2 dr r

E Ez
 d

h = (h + r ) = +
1 2 1 2 r dr

M t

z
dz


Integrate through thickness for the Bending Moments per unit

width Mr and Mh:
Z t  d 
 1  z  dz = D 
2
Mr = r +
t
2
dr r
Z t  d

 1  z  dz = D
2
Mh = h +
t
2
r dr

where
Et3
D =
12 (1  2)

is the Flexural Rigidity of the plate. This plays the same role as
EI for a beam.
 Mr + dMr
q

Mh
Q + dQ
(downwards on back face)
Q

Mh
Mr dr

d
r

Vertical Equilibrium:
 dr

q dr r+ d Qr d + (Q + dQ) (r + dr) d = 0
2
d (Qr)
qr dr = Qdr r dQ qr =
dr

Moment Equilibrium about centre of back face:

(Mr + dMr ) (r + dr) d Mr r d Qr dr d
 dr
 dr d
+ q dr r+ d 2Mhdr sin =0
2 2 2

r dMr + Mr dr Qr dr Mh dr =0

d (rMr )
Qr + Mh =
dr
Substitute for Mr and Mh and rearrange:
d
 d
  d
 Qr
r +  + =
dr dr r dr D

dierentiate the rst bracket:

d2  d d  d Qr
r 2 + +  =
dr dr dr r dr D
divide throughout by r:
d2 1 d  Q
+ =
dr2 r dr r2 D
note that:
d
  1 d  d d
= and (r) = r + 
dr r r dr r2 dr dr

using the rst box:

d2 d
  Q
+ =
dr2 dr r D
or:
d
 d 
 Q
+ =
dr dr r D
or:
d 1
  d
 Q
r + =
dr r dr D
and using the second box:
d 1d
  Q
(r) =
dr r dr D

This is the governing equation for the small de ection bending of

a circular plate. It is a second-order linear dierential equation in
slope , and requires knowledge of the shear force Q which will need
to be determined from the external load (eg q ).
Example - Circular plate of radius R and thickness t carrying a
UDL of magnitude q :

Consider a circular disc of radius r, enclosing the centre:

Vertical equilibrium gives:

2 qr
r q = 2rQ or Q =
2
so:
d 1d
  Q qr
(r) = =
dr r dr D 2D
Integrate wrt r:
1d qr 2
(r) = + C1
r dr 4D
so:
d qr 3
(r) = + C1r
dr 4D
Integrate again wrt r:
qr 4 r2
r = + C1 + C2
16D 2
to give:
qr 3 r C
 = + C1 + 2
16D 2 r
This is a general expression for any circular plate carring a UDL.
Constants C1 and C2 are to be obtained from boundary conditions.
eg, simply-supported boundary conditions are:
 = 0, at r = 0 (which is in fact a symmetry condition),
and Mr = 0, at r = R:
The rst condition gives C2 = 0, while the second becomes:
 d 
 3qR2 C1
 qR2 C1

+ = + + + =0
dr r 16D 2 16D 2
which reduces to:
qR2
3 +  
C1 =
8D 1+

Thus the solution to the governing equation for simply-supported

circular plate of radius R and exural rigidity D, under applied
lateral pressure q , is:
q
 3 +   
2 3
 = R r r
16D 1+

For a plate that is built-in (clamped) around the circumference (eg

Q1 of tutorial 1) apply the same procedure but replace the second
boundary condition by  = 0 at r = R.