ABSTRACT
For a very thick plate, any line normal to the mid-plane does not remain straight or normal to the deformed surface during deformation. Therefore the thin plate theory is no longer applicable, and three-dimensional analysis is required. If a rectangular plate is supported only on its edges, the displacements can be interpolated by beam eigenfunctions in both the x and y directions. As a result, it is only necessary to divide the plate into several layers and to use polynomial shape functions in the z direction (Fig. 8.1) Thus, the three-dimensional elastic analysis reduces to a one-dimensional analysis. This method is referred to as the finite layer method. Finite layer simulation. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429078781/c47ea04c-39ed-4342-b8b1-f281a780ba49/content/fig8_1.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
