Ritz Buckling Analysis of Rectangular Plates with Internal Hinge

This paper presents the Ritz method for buckling analysis of rectangular plates with an internal line hinge. The Ritz method involves the domain decomposition method to cater for the discontinuity of slope at the hinge line. The correctness of the Ritz formulation and solutions is confirmed by the exact solutions derived using the Levy method for plates with two opposite sides simply supported. Based on the Ritz method, buckling factors are generated for rectangular plates of various aspect ratios, hinge locations, and support and loading conditions.