Three Dimensional Photoelastic Investigations on Thick Rectangular Plates

Abstract

Thick rectangular plates are investigated by means of three-dimensional photoelasticity using the stress-freezing technique. Plate with two opposite edges simply supported and the other two edges free subjected to a central line load is studied as a specific example. Three different thicknesses to include the range of thin to moderately thick to thick plates are considered and it is shown that by employing a judicious slicing pattern stress variation at the critical sections of the plate can be obtained. Numerical results obtained are compared with those from a thin plate theory and a higher order thick plate theory.