LAUSR

Abstract This paper presents new solutions for the load carrying capacity of a circular plate subjected to arbitrary rotational symmetric loadings. Simply supported and clamped boundary conditions are considered. The lower bound method of limit analysis has been used together with the half- range Fourier series expansion of the loading function. The resulting nonlinear equation has been solved numerically using the Newton–Raphson algorithm. Since the obtained solution satisfies all of the requirements for an exact solution, it is in fact the exact critical load factor. The results have been verified against available findings in the literature. Finally, several new loading types for which no solution is currently available have been analyzed.