Closed form, approximate stress solutions for simply supported cubic and orthotropic plates subjected to a lateral pressure are presented and compared with a series solution. The accuracy of the approximate solutions depends on the degree of anisotropy. For cubic plates exhibiting significant anisotropy, the approximate solution is within similar to10% of the series solution. For a graphite-epoxy composite plate of orthotropic symmetry, the approximate solution is within 10% of the series solution for the maximum stress at the plate centre and within 23% for the minimum stress at the plate centre. Single crystal plates tend to exhibit a large tangential stress where the stiff directions intersect the plate edges, implying that the edges of brittle single crystal test specimens must either be prepared better than those of isotropic specimens or have more of the plate overhanging the support. [References: 7]
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