Buckling and vibration of rectangular plates with elastic edge supports subjected to linearly varying in-plane loading

This paper employs the discrete singular convolution (DSC) method to investigate the buckling and vibration of rectangular plates with all edges transversely supported as well as elastically restrained against rotation. The plates are subjected to a linearly varying uniaxial in-plane load. The Kirchhoff thin plate theory is used to model the buckling and vibration behaviour of the plates. The DSC method is applied to solve this problem due to its distinguished advantages of numerical stability and flexible implementation for plate analysis. Convergence and comparison studies are carried out to establish the correctness and accuracy of the presented method. The plates may have different combinations of edge support conditions through the variation of the stiffness of the rational elastic constraint. Parametric studies are carried out on the buckling capacity and vibration frequencies of the plates against the linearly varying uniaxial in-plane load, the rotational spring stiffness and the plate aspect ratios.