Flexure under Line Load
The graph below allows you to test the influence of different line loads/displacements and effective elastic thickness on the flexure of a plate. Just drag the sliders to modify the values. You find a short description of the governing equation below.
Plate Flexure due to Line Load
Flexure, , of an elastic plate due to a line load / end displacement,
, is
If the plate is broken then the sine term is dropped.
is the distance from the line load and
is
where is the flexural rigidity, which is related to Young’s modulus
, Poisson’s ratio
, and the effective elastic thickness
through
The other variables are the density of the mantle, , the density of water,
, and the gravity acceleration,
.
A more detailed derivation can be found in Geodynamics by Turcotte and Schubert.