Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to study parametric earthquake analysis
of thick plates using Mindlin's theory, to determine the effects of the
thickness/span ratio, the aspect ratio and the boundary conditions on the
linear responses of thick plates subjected to earthquake excitations and to
present the frequency parameters and the mode shapes of the same plates. In the
analysis, finite element method is used for spatial integration and the
Newmark-β method is used for time integration. A computer program using
finite element method is coded in C++ to analyze the plates clamped or simply
supported along all four edges. In the analysis, 8-noded finite element is
used. Graphs and tables are presented that should help engineers in the design
of thick plates subjected to earthquake excitations. It is concluded that, in
general, the changes in the thickness/span ratio are more effective on the
maximum responses considered in this study than the changes in the aspect
ratio. It is also concluded that the effects of the change in the
thickness/span ratio on the frequency parameter of the thick plates are always
larger than those of the change in the aspect ratio.
