Deducing thick plate solutions from classical thin plate solutions

This paper reviews the author`s work on the development of relationships between solutions of the Kirchhoff (classical thin) plate theory and the Mindlin (first order shear deformation) thick plate theory. The relationships for deflections, stress-resultants, buckling loads and natural frequencies enable one to obtain the Mindlin plate solutions from the well-known Kirchhoff plate solutions for the same problem without much tedious mathematics. Sample thick plate solutions, deduced from the relationships, are presented as benchmark solutions for researchers to use in checking their numerical thick plate solutions.