Analysis of rectangular thin plates by using finite difference method

This paper presents an investigation into the performance evaluation of Finite Difference (FD) method in modeling a rectangular thin plate structure. In case of complex and big construction systems subjected to the arbitrary loads, including a complex boundary conditions, solving of differential equations by analytical methods is almost impossible. Then the solution is application of numerical methods. The differential equations are discretized by means of the finite difference method which are used to determine the in-plane stress functions of plates and reduced to several sets of linear algebraic simultaneous equations. In the end, A problems is solved which illustrate the potential of the method for predicting the finite stress, deflection and farther directions of investigations are given. Finally, it was found that the finite difference method selection is desired to model thin plates structure.