Some results for approximate strain and rotation tensor formulations in geometrically non-linear Reissner-Mindlin plate theory

Finite element deflection and stress results are presented for four flat plate configurations and are computed using kinematically approximate (rotation tensor, strain tensor or both) non-linear Reissner-Mindlin plate models. The finite element model is based on a mixed variational principle and has both displacement and force field variables. High order interpolation of the field variables is possible through p-type discretization. Results for some of the higher order approximate models are given for what appears to be the first time. It is found that for the class of example problems examined, exact strain tensor but approximate rotation tensor theories can significantly improve the solution over approximate strain tensor models such as the von Kármán and moderate rotation models when moderate deflections/rotations are present. However, for each of the problems examined (with the exception of a postbuckling problem) the von Kármán and moderate rotation model results compared favorably with the higher order models for deflection magnitudes which could be reasonably expected in typical aeroelastic configurations.     

Complex Parametric Vibrations of Flexible Rectangular Plates

In this paper we consider parametric oscillations of flexible plates within the model of von Kármán equations. First we propose the general iterational method to find solutions to even more general problem governed by the von Kármán–Vlasov–Mushtari equations. In the language of physics the found solutions define stress–strain state of flexible shallow shell with a bounded convex space R ² and with sufficiently smooth boundary . The new variational formulation of the problem has been proposed and his validity and application has been discussed using precise mathematical treatment. Then, using the earlier introduced theoretical results, an effective algorithm has been applied to convert problem of finding solutions to hybrid type partial differential equations of von Kármán form to that of the ordinary differential (ODEs) and algebraic (AEs) equations. Mechanisms of transition to chaos of deterministic systems with infinite number of degrees of freedom are presented. Comparison of mechanisms of transition to chaos with known ones is performed. The following cases of longitudinal loads of different sign are investigated: parametric load acting along X direction only, and parametric load acting in both directions X and Y with the same amplitude and frequency.     

Non-linear response of laminated composite plates under thermomechanical loading

The non-linear response of laminated composite plates under thermomechanical loading is studied using the third-order shear deformation theory (TSDT) that includes classical and first-order shear deformation theories (CLPT and FSDT) as special cases. Geometric non-linearity in the von Kármán sense is considered. The temperature field is assumed to be uniform in the plate. Layers of magnetostrictive material, Terfenol-D, are used to actively control the center deflection. The negative velocity feedback control is used with the constant gain value. The effects of lamination scheme, magnitude of loading, layer material properties, and boundary conditions are studied under thermomechanical loading.     

A justification of the von Kármán equations

The method of asymptotic expansions, with the thickness as the parameter, is applied to the nonlinear, three-dimensional, equations for the equilibrium of a special class of elastic plates under suitable loads. It is shown that the leading term of the expansion is the solution of a system of equations equivalent to those of von Kármán. The existence of solutions of this system is established. It is also shown that the displacement and stress corresponding to the leading term of the expansion have the specific form generally assumed in the usual derivations of the von Kármán equations; in particular, the displacement field is of Kirchhoff-Love type. This approach also clarifies the nature of admissible boundary conditions for both the von Kármán equations and the three-dimensional model from which these equations are obtained. A careful discussion of the limitations of this approach is given in the conclusion.     

Influence of corner stresses on the stability characteristics of composite skew plates

Stability characteristics of composite skew plates subjected to in-plane compressive load are investigated here using the shear deformable finite element approach. The influences of high prebuckling stresses at the corner regions of isotropic and composite skew plates on their stability characteristics are emphasized for different load direction, boundary condition and laminate stacking sequence. The non-linear governing equations based on von Kármán's assumptions are solved by Newton-Raphson technique to get the hitherto unreported postbuckling equilibrium paths of composite skew plates loaded between two rigid flat platens. The variation of out-of-plane deformation and end-shortening with compressive in-plane load are examined for simply supported and clamped skew plates made of isotropic, symmetric and unsymmetric laminates. Marguerre's shallow shell theory is employed to study the effect of sinusoidal imperfection on the non-linear behavior of composite skew plates.     

The derivation of dual extremum and complementary stationary principles in geometrical non-linear shell theory

Summary In non-linear elasticity dual extremum principles can be formulated for some class of elastic deformations, for which uniqueness of the solution is assured. These results are used in the present paper to derive extremal variational principles for geometrical non-linear shells with moderate rotations. Furthermore two complementary variational principles are considered, which are stationary principles without any extremum property. The proposed theorems are valid also for the special cases of linear plates and shells, for the non-linear von Kármán plate theory and for non-linear Donnell-Marguerre type shells.

---

Übersicht In der nichtlinearen Elastizitätstheorie lassen sich duale Extremalprinzipe für solche elastische Verformungen herleiten, für die Eindeutigkeit der Lösung gewährleistet ist. Diese Resultate werden in der vorliegenden Arbeit benutzt, um für geometrisch-nichtlineare Schalen mit moderaten Rotationen Extremalprinzipe zu erhalten. Darüber hinaus werden zwei komplementäre Variationstheoreme angegeben, die Stationaritätsprinzipe ohne Extremaleigenschaft sind. Die vorgeschlagenen Verfahren gelten auch für die Sonderfälle der linearen Platten- und Schalentheorie, für die nichtlineare von Kármánsche Plattentheorie sowie für die nichtlineare Donnell-Marguerresche Schalentheorie.

     

Homogenization of linear elastic shells

Homogenization techniques were used by Duvaut (1976,1978) in asymptotic analyse of 3-dimensional periodic continuum problems and periodic von Kármán plates.In this paper we homogenize Budiansky-Sanders linear, elastic shells with material parameters rapidly oscillating on the shell surface. We obtain a homogenized shell model which is elliptic and depends on explicitly calculated effective material parameters. We show that the solution of the periodic shell model converges weakly to the solution of the homogenized model when the period tends to zero.     

The principle of complementary energy in nonlinear plate theory

In this paper, the priciple of complementary energy is given for the von Kármán nonlinear plate theory. Thenecessary conditions are three linear and static equilibrium equations in the interior and static boundary conditions on that part of the boundary surface, where forces are prescribed. The stationary value of the complementary energy functional leads to the stress-displacement relations and the geometric boundary conditions.

---

Zusammenfassung In dieser Arbeit wird das komplementäre Variationsprinzip für die nichtlineare Plattentheorie nach von Kármán untersucht. Als notwendige Bedingungen ergeben sich drei lineare statische Gleichgewichtsbedingungen sowie lineare statische Randbedingungen auf dem Teil des Randes, auf dem die Kräfte vorgegeben sind. Für den stationären Wert des Funktionals erhält man die Schnittgrößen-Verformungsbeziehungen sowie die geometrischen Randbedingungen.

     

Non-linear behaviour of free-edge shallow spherical shells: Effect of the geometry

Non-linear vibrations of free-edge shallow spherical shells are investigated, in order to predict the trend of non-linearity (hardening/softening behaviour) for each mode of the shell, as a function of its geometry. The analog for thin shallow shells of von Kármán's theory for large deflection of plates is used. The main difficulty in predicting the trend of non-linearity relies in the truncation used for the analysis of the partial differential equations (PDEs) of motion. Here, non-linear normal modes through real normal form theory are used. This formalism allows deriving the analytical expression of the coefficient governing the trend of non-linearity. The variation of this coefficient with respect to the geometry of the shell (radius of curvature R, thickness h and outer diameter 2a) is then numerically computed, for axisymmetric as well as asymmetric modes. Plates (obtained as R→∞) are known to display a hardening behaviour, whereas shells generally behave in a softening way. The transition between these two types of non-linearity is clearly studied, and the specific role of 2:1 internal resonances in this process is clarified.     

A justification of nonlinear properly invariant plate theories

A single asymptotic derivation of three classical nonlinear plate theories is presented in a setting which preserves the frame-invariance properties of three-dimensional finite elasticity. By a successive scaling of the external loading on the three-dimensional body, the nonlinear membrane theory, the nonlinear inextensional theory and the von Kármán equations are derived as the leading-order terms in the asymptotic expansion of finite elasticity. The governing equations of the nonlinear inextensional theory are of particular interest where 1) plane-strain kinematics and plane-stress constitutive equations are derived simultaneously from the asymptotic analysis, 2) the theory can be phrased as a minimization problem over the space of isometric deformations of a surface, and 3) the local equilibrium equations are identical to those arising in the one-director Cosserat shell model. Furthermore, it can be concluded that with a regular, single-scale asymptotic expansion it is not possible to obtain a system of plate equations in which finite membrane strain and finite bending strain occur simultaneously in the leading-order term of an asymptotic analysis.     

Large deflection analysis of unsymmetrically laminated composite plates: analytical-numerical type approach

Large deflection analysis of laminated composite plates is considered. The Galerkin method along with Newton-Raphson method is applied to large deflection analysis of laminated composite plates with various edge conditions. The von Kármán plate theory is utilized and the governing differential equations are solved by choosing suitable polynomials as trial functions to approximate the plate displacement functions. The solutions are compared to that of Dynamic Relaxation and finite elements. A very close agreement has been observed with these approximating methods. In the solution process, analytical computation has been done wherever it is possible, and analytical-numerical type approach has been made for all problems.     

A note on similarity-type flows of elastico-viscous fluids

A study is undertaken to ascertain non-Newtonian effects in steady flows of elastic fluids due to an infinite rotating disk when there is suction across its surface. The fluids considered are of a class for which the similarity-type solution of von Kármán is an exact solution. It is shown that the presence of elasticity (of the type considered) does not result in flow reversal, the disk acting as a centrifugal fan as in Newtonian flow.     

Postbuckling of rectangular plates under uniaxial compression combined with lateral pressure

Based on the nonlinear large deflection equations of von Kármán plates, the lateral pressure is first converted into an initial deflection by Galerkin method, the postbuckling behavior of simply supported rectangular plates under uniaxial compression combined with lateral pressure is then studied applying perturbation method by taking deflection as perturbation parameter. Two types of in-plane boundary conditions and the effects of initial geometric imperfection are also considered. It is found that the theoretical results are in good accordance with experiments.     

Microstructure-dependent couple stress theories of functionally graded beams

A microstructure-dependent nonlinear Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam theories which account for through-thickness power-law variation of a two-constituent material are developed using the principle of virtual displacements. The formulation is based on a modified couple stress theory, power-law variation of the material, and the von Kármán geometric nonlinearity. The model contains a material length scale parameter that can capture the size effect in a functionally graded material, unlike the classical Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam theories. The influence of the parameter on static bending, vibration and buckling is investigated. The theoretical developments presented herein also serve to develop finite element models and determine the effect of the geometric nonlinearity and microstructure-dependent constitutive relations on post-buckling response.     

An Existence Theorem for Generalized von Kármán Equations

Using techniques from formal asymptotic analysis, the first two authors have recently identified generalized von Kármán equations, which constitute a two-dimensional model for a nonlinearly elastic plate where only a portion of the lateral face is subjected to boundary conditions of von Kármán's type, the remaining portion being free. In this paper, we establish an existence theorem for these equations. To this end, we first reduce them to a single equation, which generalizes a cubic operator equation introduced by M.S. Berger and P. Fife. We then directly solve this equation, notably by adapting a crucial compactness method due to J.-L. Lions. Résumé. En utilisant les techniques de l'analyse asymptotique formelle, les deux premiers auteurs ont récemment identifié des équations de von Kármán généralisées, qui constituent un modèle bi-dimensionnel de plaque non linéairement élastique dont une partie seulement de la face latérale est soumise à des conditions aux limites de von Kármán, la partie restante étant libre. Dans cet article, on établit un théorème d'existence pour ces équations. À cette fin, elles sont d'abord réduites à une seule équation, qui généralise une équation faisant intervenir un opérateur cubique, introduite par M.S. Berger et P. Fife. On résout ensuite directement cette équation, en adaptant notamment une méthode cruciale de compacité due à J.-L. Lions.     

Spin-down of a fluid between infinite cones

This study is concerned with the spin-down of a fluid between stationary cones. It follows on from [7], where solutions were obtained for a fluid spinning down between two infinite disks and where it was shown that under various initial conditions the dependence of the velocity on radius and time tends to a universal Kármán stage. In the case of cones the analogous universal stage is not of the Kármán type, which makes possible an experimental check of the applicability of the self-similar boundary layer equations generalizing the Karman equations previously considered in [11–13]. The experiments confirm the conclusions of the theory.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 37–44, July–August, 1986.In conclusion, the authors wish to thank A. M. Obukhov and F. V. Dolzhanskii for formulating the problem and constructive discussions.     

Exponential decay estimates for solutions of the von kármán equations on a semi-infinite strip

This paper is concerned with the analysis of Saint-Venant edge effects for nonlinear elastic plates. The model used is based on the von Kármán plate equations: a coupled system of two nonlinear elliptic partial differential equations with the biharmonic operator as the principal part. Energy methods are used to establish a nonlinear integro-differential inequality for a quadratic functional. Arguments based on comparison theorems are then used to establish exponential decay of end effects.     

Postbuckling of angle-ply and anisotropic plates

Summary An analysis based on the von Kármán-type large-deflection equations of plates is presented for the postbuckling behavior of homogeneous and symmetrically laminated anisotropic rectangular plates. Boundary conditions for both simply supported and clamped edges are considered. A solution is obtained by expressing the force function and transverse deflection as double series involving the appropriate beam eigen-functions. Numerical results are presented for graphite-epoxy angle-ply laminates and homogeneous anisotropic plates. In the cases of buckling of anisotropic plates and postbuckling of isotropic and orthotropic plates, the present solution is in good agreement with existing solutions.

---

Übersicht Es wird das Nachbeulverhalten von homogenen, symmetrisch geschichteten, anisotropen Rechteckplatten auf der Grundlage der von Kármán angegebenen Platten-Gleichungen für große Auslenkungen untersucht. Dabei werden sowohl einfach aufliegende, wie auch eingespannte Ränder als Randbedingungen berücksichtigt. Lösungen werden dadurch gewonnen, daß die Belastungsfunktion und die Querauslenkung als doppelte Reihen von geeigneten Balken-Eigenfunktionen angesetzt werden. Für Graphit-Epoxid-Schichtplatten und anisotrope homogene Platten werden numerische Ergebnisse mitgeteilt. Die erhaltenen Lösungen stimmen in den Fällen des Beulens von anisotropen Platten sowie des Nachbeulens von isotropen und orthotropen Platten gut mit bekannten Lösungen überein.

---

---

The results presented in this paper were obtained in the course of research sponsored by the National Research Council of Canada.     

Streamline bifurcations and scaling theory for a multiple-wake model

We investigate the interaction between multiple arrays of (reverse) von Kármán streets as a model for the mid-wake regions produced by schooling fish. There exist configurations where an infinite array of vortex streets is in relative equilibrium, that is, the streets move together with the same translational velocity. We examine the topology of the streamline patterns in a frame moving with the same translational velocity as the streets. Fluid is advected along different paths depending on the distance separating two adjacent streets. When the distance between the streets is large enough, each street behaves as a single von Kármán street and fluid moves globally between two adjacent streets. When the streets get closer to each other, the number of streets that enter into partnership in transporting fluid among themselves increases. This observation motivates a bifurcation analysis which links the distance between streets to the maximum number of streets transporting fluid among themselves. We describe a scaling law relating the number of streets that enter into partnership as a function of the three main parameters associated with the system, two associated with each individual street (determining the aspect ratio of the street), and a third associated with the distance between neighboring streets. In the final section we speculate on the timescale associated with the lifetime of the coherence of this mid-wake scaling regime.