Bending of a Centrally Loaded Rectangular Strip of Plywood

Abstract

The deflection of a strip of plywood is calculated for the case in which the load is concentrated along a line through the center of the strip and perpendicular to its edges. This type of loading is commonly used in tests to determine the effective modulus of elasticity in bending. Use is made of the differential equation for a flat plate of plywood. Explicit expressions in terms of the elastic constants of the component plies are given for the coefficients that occur in this equation. For the smaller span‐depth ratios the flat plate theory does not lead to exact results. A method is given for calculating the appropriate correction to the results obtained on the basis of this theory.