Limit analysis of variable thickness circular plates

The limit load carrying capacity of simply supported circular plates with general radially varying thickness has been computed. The results obtained are applicable to the analysis of circular plates subjected to arbitrary rotationally symmetric loading provided that the plate material obeys either the square or the Tresca yield criterion. It has been proved that if the loading function is expressible in the form of a power series in terms of the radial coordinate, the lower and upper bound estimations for the critical value of the load coincide. Therefore, provided that the yield condition is satisfied, the exact value of the plateʹs limit load is obtained.