Earthquake analysis of thick plates resting on elastic foundation with second order finite element

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study parametric earthquake analysis of thick plates resting on Winkler foundation using Mindlin's theory, to determine the effects of the thickness/span ratio, the aspect ratio and the boundary conditions on the linear responses of thick plates subjected to earthquake excitations. In the analysis, finite element method is used for spatial integration and the Newmark-β method is used for the time integration. Finite element formulation of the equations of the thick plate theory is derived by second order displacement shape functions. A computer program using finite element method is coded in C++ to analyze the plates simply supported and clamped along all four edges. In the analysis, 8-noded finite element is used. Graphs are presented that should help engineers in the design of thick plates subjected to earthquake excitations. It is concluded that 8-noded finite element can be effectively used in the earthquake analysis of thick plates. It is also concluded that, in general, the changes in the thickness/span ratio are more effective on the maximum responses considered in this study than the changes in the aspect ratio.