STRESSES IN SYIMMETRICALLY LOADED STEPPED CIRCULAR PLATES USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

Abstract

This paper deals with theoretical and numerical investigations for the stresses induced in circular plates with variable thickness and exposed by static loads. The effects of different types of loads on stresses are considered. The radial and hoop stresses are obtained for stepped circular plates widely used in industry. Two different forms of such plates are considered, one has a raised central region and the other has an unraised one. The results are obtained by finite element method using a tapered annulus bending element. The graphs presented in this work show the effect of the different values of step radius, type of the applied load and the effect of the different boundary conditions on the stresses from the point of view of design. When the step radius vanishes or equals to the plate radius, the plate becomes of uniform thickness. Consequently, the results obtained can be compared with the values of exact solutions. The limits of this simple finite element model for stepped plates are investigated by a more advanced finite element model having three dimensional axisymmetric annular element.