Effect of Membrane Components of Transverse Forces on Magnitudes of Total Transverse Forces in the Nonlinear Stability of Plate Structures

For an isotropic square plate subject to unidirectional compression in the postbuckling state, components of transverse forces in bending, membrane transverse components and total components of transverse forces were determined within the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT), the simple first-order shear deformation theory (S-FSDT), the classical plate theory (CPT) and the finite element method (FEM). Special attention was drawn to membrane components of transverse forces, which are expressed with the same formulas for the first three theories and do not depend on membrane deformations. These components are nonlinearly dependent on the plate deflection. The magnitudes of components of transverse forces for the four theories under consideration were compared.