Compressive stiffness of elastic layers bonded between rigid plates

The closed-form solutions to the compressive stiffness of elastic layers bonded between rigid plates are derived through theoretical analyses for the layers of infinite-strip, circular and square shapes. Based on the two kinematics assumptions, the governing equations for the mean pressure are established from the equilibrium equations and the bulk modulus equation. Satisfying the stress boundary conditions, the pressure functions are solved and the formulae for the compressive stiffness are derived. The compressive stiffnesses calculated from these formulae are extremely close to the results obtained from the finite element method for an extensive range of shape factor and Poissonʹs ratio. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved