Static analysis of plates on the unilateral foundation by BEM

The boundary element method is often used in the theory of both thin and thick plates. It is particularly suitable to analyse plates of arbitrary shapes resting on elastic foundations, see Fadhil and EI-Zafrany 1994, de Paiva and Butterfield 1997, Xiao 2001. The paper presents the modified approach in which three geometric and three static variables at the plate boundary are considered. Also in this formulation there is no need to introduce the equivalent shear forces at the boundary and the concentrated forces at the plate corners. The present formulation is based upon three degrees-of-freedom per boundary node, see Guminiak et al. 2001 and 2002. An elastic foundation of Winkler type was analysed. The deformation equation of the foundation was expressed using integral equation.