Finite deflection analysis of elastic plate by the boundary element method

An integral equation formulation for finite deflection analysis of thin elastic plates is presented, based on general nonlinear differential equations which are equivalent to the von Kármán equations and by virtue of generalized Green identities. Boundary element discretization is applied and a relaxation iterative approach is employed to solve the nonlinear plate bending problems. A number of numerical examples are given; the results of computation are compared with the analytical solutions and good agreement is observed. It appears that the approach developed in this paper is effective.