Plate theory

[boyneviaduct]

Hi
I writing a structural report on a railway bridge which I'm currently studying. The bridge is a simply supported space truss. I understand the truss and the train models but I'm having great difficult with the plates of the bridge.

I know nothing about plate theory but I still have to write a chapter about it. The chapter must include the plates in FEM

Please help me

 

[ishvaaag]

1st I suggest you get hands on the pertinent railway code (AREA?) that will have guide for plates in railway structures' use.

For plates in general most manual books on steel have sections on it. I have posted some worksheets in Mathcad Collaboratory that even if possibly useful to you I wouldn't recommend to use for railways check since they have been made from building data and for building applications.

Gaylord, Gaylord and Stallmeyer books are great on plates. But the AREA code will give you even more directly useful checks to think about.

 

[Qshake]

If you're interested in fundamental information regarding plates, I suggest that you look into the text: Structural Analysis of Laminated Anisotropic Plates by Whitney. Despite the long title, I found this book to contain the best introduction on plate theory than many text on the subject of plates and shells.

It may also be that you need to check out some old engineering texts on the subject of rail bridge design. Especially if you are looking at a buckled plate design dating back to the 40s, 30s or even farther. This will offer more insight that the above reference as you can imagine that the design was much simplified from stringent plate analysis. For more information see my post in the Engineering History forum on bridge decks.

Good Luck.