ABSTRACT
The semi-analytical method uses the two nonlinear fourth order partial differential equations of the large deflection theory, the equilibrium and compatibility equations derived by von Kármán in 1910 for perfect plates and extended to plates with initial imperfections by Marguerre in 1937 (Timoshenko & Woinowsky-Krieger 1959).The method is called semianalytical because in a first step an analytical solution for the Airy stress function (F) is obtained solving the compatibility equation. Trigonometric series for the out-of-plane displacements (w) and for the initial imperfections (w0) are adopted, which satisfy the boundary conditions.
