ABSTRACT
A plate is a at structural element having two dimensions much larger than the thickness. Essentially, the laminates described in Chapter 6 are plates. They can be loaded by edge loads (Nx, Ny, Nxy) or transverse loads; the later produce bending moments (Mx, My, Mxy). While bending moments may be transferred to the supports on the edges, the bending moments are usually unknown at the onset of the analysis. The design of the plates seldom begins with a set of specied bending moments Mx, My, Mxy. However, all the analysis presented in Chapter 6 assumed that these bending moments and in-plane loads where known. Therefore, it is necessary to determine these values as a function of the loading and boundary conditions before the stresses in the plate can be computed.
