This document is part of the notes written by Terje Haukaas and posted at www.inrisk.ubc.ca.

The notes are revised without notice and they are provided as is without warranty of any kind. You are encouraged to submit comments, suggestions, and questions to terje@civil.ubc.ca. It is unnecessary to print these notes because they will remain available online.

Kirchhoff Plates

This document presents the fundamental equations for plates, which extend significantly longer in two directions compared with the third, and carry load perpendicular to that plane. Similar to the presentation for other members, the equations for equilibrium, kinematics, and material law are first established. Thereafter, the differential equation is set up and its solutions discussed. Finally, cross-section analysis, here with focus on stress computations, is presented. The Kirchhoff plate theory is for relatively thin plates, and is analogue to the Euler- Bernoulli theory for beams. In particular, the assumption that plane sections remain plane and perpendicular to the neutral axis is maintained and generalized. In classical plate theory it is also common to let the plate stretch in the x-y-directions, and to let the z-axis point downwards. This custom is adopted in Figure 1, where the stresses and stress resultants for a plate element is shown. The first index of the stress components is named after the surface that the component acts on. The second index identifies the direction of the stress component. The naming of the stress resultants, i.e., bending moments and shear forces, require careful attention because it differs from the naming in beam theory. All are measured per unit length along the considered plate edge. In this document, all

Terje Haukaas

University of British Columbia

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bending moments and shear forces are given two indices to indicate that they belong to the theory of plates and shells, rather than beam theory. With reference to Figure 1, bending moments with two equal indices, i.e., Mxx and Myy, act on the surface with normal vector equal to that index. Their physical behaviour is similar to bending moments in beam theory. Conversely, bending moments with different indices, i.e., Mxy and Myx, are conceptually different. They are twisting moments, sometimes called cross moments, which act on the surface of the first index; the second index simply indicates the other direction to identify that it is a twisting moment. It will be shown shortly that Mxy=Myx. Following the pattern that the stress resultants have the same indices that the stresses they derive from, the shear forces has two indices; the first index identifies the normal direction to the surface it acts on and the second index is the direction that the shear force acts.
h/2 h/2

! yy

! yx ! xy

! yz

! xz

! xx

M yy
M xx

M xy

M yx

Vyz

Vxz

y z, w

Figure 1: Stresses and stress resultant in a plate element.

Section Integration
Letting the z-axis have its origin at the neutral plane of the plate, the stress resultants are defined by the integrals

Kirchhoff Plates

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University of British Columbia

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h /2

M xx = M yy =

# h /2 h /2

$ $ $ $

z ! " xx dz z ! " yy dz
(1)

# h /2 h /2

M xy = M yx =

z ! " xy dz z ! " yx dz

# h /2 h /2

# h /2

From solid mechanics it is known that xy=yx, which implies by Eq. (1) that the cross moments are equal: Mxy=Myx. It is also noted that, as in classical beam theory, the z-direction shear forces are not included in the stress resultant equations, and the shear stresses are not included in the material law and kinematic considerations. Rather, the shear forces are recovered by the equilibrium equations.

Equilibrium

Consider the infinitesimal plate element shown in Figure 2. It extends dx in x- direction and dy in y-direction. Its thickness is h and it is subjected to a distributed load of intensity qz in the z-direction.
M xy

Vxz
M xx

Vyz M yy

M yx

dy

dx

M yy +

!M yy !y
dy

dy
M xx +

x
!M xy !M xx M xy + dx dx !x !x !V Vxz + xz dx !x

M yx +

!M yx !y

Vyz +

!Vyz !y

dy

Figure 2: Infinitesimal plate element.

Equilibrium in the z-direction yields

qz ! dx ! dy +

"Vyz dy

! dy ! dx +

"Vyz "Vxz "Vxz ! dx ! dy = 0 # qz + + = 0 "x "y "x

(2)

Moment equilibrium about the y-axis, at the right front edge in Figure 2 yields

Kirchhoff Plates

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University of British Columbia

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!M yx !M xx !M xx !M yx " dx " dy + " dy " dx # Vxz " dy " dx = 0 $ Vxz = + !x !y !x !y "M yy "y "M xy "x "M yy "y "M xy "x

(3)

Moment equilibrium about the x-axis, at the left front edge in Figure 2 yields

# dy # dx !

# dx # dy + Vyz # dx # dy = 0 $ Vyz =

(4)

The three equilibrium equations can be combined into one. Partial differentiation of Eq. (3) with respect to x and partial differentiation of Eq. (4) with respect to y, followed but substitution of those equations into Eq. (2) yields
2 ! 2 M xy ! 2 M xx ! M yy qz + + + 2" = 0 !x 2 !y 2 !x!y

(5)

Material Law
For the relatively thin plates considered in this theory it is the plane stress version of Hookes law, rather than plane strain, that is appropriate:

" ! xx $ $ ! # yy $ ! $ % xy

& $ $= E ' 1) *2 $ $ (

+ 1 * 0 0 - * 1 1)* - 0 0 2 ,

. " 1 xx $ 1 0$ 0 # yy 0 $ 1 xy % 0$ /

& $ $ ' $ $ (

(6)

Kinematics

Analog to Naviers hypothesis in beam theory, it is assumed that straight lines through the plate in the z-direction will remain straight and perpendicular to the neutral plane during bending. In other words, points on the midsurface characterized by z=0 move only in the z-direction. As a result, the relationships between the out-of-plane plate displacement w and the in-plane displacements u and v are:
u=! "w "w # z and v = ! # z "x "y

(7)

In addition, the strains and displacements in the plates plane are given by the two- dimensional kinematic equations from solid mechanics:

" ! xx $ $ ! # yy $ ! $ % xy

& * ) )x 0 $ $ , ) )y '= , 0 $ , ) )y ) )x $ ( +

/" u & ' /# v % ( / .

(8)

Combination of Eqs. (7) and (8) yields

Kirchhoff Plates

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University of British Columbia

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" ! xx $ $ ! # yy $ ! $ % xy

" +2 w $ 2 $ +x & $ $ $ $ +2 w ' = )z * # 2 $ $ +y $ $ ( +2 w $ 2* +x+x $ %

& $ $ $ $ ' $ $ $ $ (

(9)

Differential Equation

Combination of the equations for stress resultant, material law, and kinematics, as well as integration along z, the following equations are obtained: where D is defined as:
% #2 w #2 w ( M xx = ! D " ' 2 + $ " 2 * #y ) & #x % #2 w #2 w ( M yy = ! D " ' 2 + $ " 2 * #x ) & #y

(10) (11) (12)

M xy = ! D " (1 ! # ) "

$2 w $x$y

E ! h3 D= 12 ! (1 " # 2 )

(13)

Substitution of Eqs. (10), (11), (12) into the equilibrium equation from Eq. (5) yields the fourth order differential equation for plate bending:

q !4 w !4 w !4 w + + 2 " = z 4 4 2 2 !x !y !x !y D

(14)

General Solution
Before addressing the complete differential equation, Eqs. (10) and (11) allow a useful interpretation for plates that span in one direction only. A strip of such a plate can be considered as a beam. In other words, one of the curvatures in the parenthesis of Eqs. (10) and (11) is zero and the equations take the form

#2 w M xx = ! D " 2 #x

(15)

which leads to the conclusion that D take the place of the bending stiffness EI from beam bending, when a unit-width strip of the plate is considered. The use of D in

Kirchhoff Plates

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University of British Columbia

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place of EI essentially accounts for the constrained strain by the plate continuing on the sides of the plate strip.

Recovery of Shear Forces: Kirchhoffs Shear Force

The anomaly of beam theory due to Naviers hypothesis carries over to plate theory. Instead of including shear stresses and strains in the theory, the shear forces are recovered only after solving the differential equation. The equilibrium in Eqs. (3) and (4) are employed for this purpose. However, these two equations are only one part of the total shear force in plate theory, as explained next. According to the theory above, three stress resultants act along the edge of a plate: bending moment, shear force, and twisting moment. The number of unknowns in the general solution to the differential equation is insufficient to prescribe that many boundary conditions. This leads to a closer examination of the twisting moment, and subsequently its inclusion into the total shear force. To this end, consider the twisting moment Mxy and its variation in the y-direction. Figure 1 may be of help in visualizing this. Next, imagine that within each infinitesimal segment of length dy the twisting moment Mxy gives rise to a force pair. Let the forces be dy apart; because the moment within a length dy is Mxy.dy, each force is Mxy. When the twisting moment varies along y, then there will be a surplus of the force Mxy within each infinitesimal segment. This surplus is same as the change of Mxy within a length dy, namely !M xy !y . The total shear forces are then:
% ! 3w ! 3w ( Vxz + = " D # ' 3 + (2 " $ ) !y !x!y 2 * & !x ) % ! 3w ! 3w ( Vyz + = " D # ' 3 + (2 " $ ) 2 * !y !x !y ) & !y !M yx !M xy

(16) (17)

The force-interpretation of the twisting moment leads to another conclusion. When Mxy and Myx and varies along the plate edge there is a net shear force at the corner of the plate. For example, when a square plate is bending under uniform downward loading then the corners will experience uplift. This is due to the net unbalanced concentrated force equal to 2Mxy at the corner. This shear force is known as Kirchhoffs shear force and the corner uplift is referred to as the Kirchhoff effect.

Kirchhoff Plates

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