Buckling of a thin circular plate loaded by in-plane gravity

The elastic distortions due to gravitational loading in thin circular plates loaded by In-Plane Gravity are discussed. The in-plane gravity should be large enough to induce the mask in a buckling or postbuckling state. An alternative displacement approach was developed in rectangular coordinates. A complete solution for the plane stress problem was obtained by applying the method. The approach also enables to obtain extact solution for plane stress problem of an elliptic thin plate made of an anisotropic material.