Analysis of plate resting on elastic supports and elastic foundation by finite strip method

A procedure incorporating the finite strip method together with spring systems is proposed in this paper for treating plates on elastic supports. The spring systems can simulate different elastic supports, such as elastic foundation, line and point elastic supports, and also mixed boundary conditions. To illustrate the application of this procedure, two numerical examples are presented. A three-span simply supported plate is first considered and the effects of support stiffness on the static and free vibration responses and on the critical buckling stress are discussed. A plate resting on Winkler elastic foundation is next studied and the effects of dimension ratio on the static and free vibration responses are discussed. Numerical results show that the spring system can successfully simulate different kinds of elastic supports.