International Journal of Engineering Advanced Research eISSN: 2710-7167 | Vol. 3, No. 1, 27-45, 2021 http://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ijear 27 Copyright © 2021 ACADEMIA INDUSTRY NETWORKS. All rights reserved International Journal of Engineering Advanced Research (IJEAR) eISSN: 2710-7167 [Vol. 3 No. 1 March 2021] Journal website: http://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ijear ANALYTICAL THREE-DIMENSIONAL BENDING ANALYSES OF SIMPLY SUPPORTED THICK RECTANGULAR PLATE Ibearugbulem, Owus M. 1 , Onwuegbuchulem, Uchenna C. 2* , Ibearugbulem, C. N. 3 1 3 School of Engineering and Engineering Technology, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, NIGERIA 2 School of Environmental Sciences, Federal University of Technology, Owerri, NIGERIA Corresponding author: uche.onwuegbuchulem@futo.edu.ng Article Information: Article history: Received date : 25 January 2021 Revised date : 23 February 2021 Accepted date : 28 February 2021 Published date : 1 March 2021 To cite this document: Ibearugbulem, O., Onwuegbuchulem, U., & Ibearugbulem, C. (2021). ANALYTICAL THREE- DIMENSIONAL BENDING ANALYSES OF SIMPLY SUPPORTED THICK RECTANGULAR PLATE. International Journal Of Engineering Advanced Research, 3(1), 27-45. Abstract: This paper presented an analytical three- dimensional bending analysis of simply supported thick rectangular plate. Six strain components and six stress components were used in a third order shear deformation theory. With the six strain and stress components a total potential energy functional was obtained. This functional was minimized with respect to shear deformation rotations to obtain compatibility equations. Solutions of the compatibility equations gave the relationship between deflection and the rotations. The functional was further minimized with respect to deflection to obtain the governing equation, which was solved to obtain deflection equation. From here, formulas for deflection and stresses were obtained. The values of the deflections and stresses obtained herein were compared with those of refined plate theories using simple percentage difference. It was observed that their values are not that close. Deflection from the present work differs from those of refined plate theory by 26.63% and 5.01% for span-to-depth ratios of 4 and 1000 respectively. This implies that refined plate theories are quite coarse for thick plate analysis. Keywords: Thick Plate analysis; Rectangular plate bending; Shear deformation theory.