MACROAPPROACH CLOSED-FORM SERIES SOLUTION FOR ORTHOTROPIC PLATES

The objective of this study is to present the derivations in closed-fo rm series for moments and deflections of thin orthotropic plates with general edge beams (boundaries) under arbitrary out-of-plane loading. The displacement solutions for the major components of the system (pla te and beam) or macroelements are obtained by first solving for the un known interactive forces and moments at the beam or nodal line locatio ns after satisfying displacement compatibility along nodal lines. Such an approach is referred to herein as the macroapproach. The displacem ent functions for the macroelements are proposed in Fourier cum polyno mial series after making sure that the series satisfies the boundary c onditions. Using known solution forms of summation equations, solution s of systems of equations in open form has been avoided. The proposed series solution can be applied to all types of orthotropic decks with bridge bridges. Numerical examples involving orthotropic plates with v arious aspect ratios, loading cases, and bridge-type boundary conditio ns are presented to demonstrate the accuracy of the approach for predi cting deflections and moments. The major advantage of this technique i s the development of a solution algorithm in the form of summation equ ations, leading to fast converging closed-form series solutions.