This article presents the Transfer Matrix Method as a mathematical approach for the calculus of different structures that can be discretized into elements using an iterative calculus for future applications in the vehicle industry. Plate calculus is important in construction, medicine, orthodontics, and many other fields. This work is original due to the mathematical apparatus used in the calculus of long rectangular plates embedded in both long borders and required by a uniformly distributed force on a line parallel to the long borders. The plate is discretized along its length in unitary beams, which have the width of the rectangular plate. The unitary beam can also be discretized into parts. As applications, the long rectangular plates embedded on the two long borders and charged with a vertical uniform load that acts on a line parallel to the long borders are studied. A state vector is associated with each side. For each of the four cases studied, a matrix relationship was written for each side, based on a transfer matrix, the state vector corresponding to the origin side, and the vector due to the action of external forces acting on the considered side. After, it is possible to calculate all the state vectors for all sides of the unity beam. Now, the efforts, deformations, and stress can be calculated in any section of the beam, respectively, for the long rectangular plate. This calculus will serve as a calculus of resistance for different pieces of the components of vehicles.

The aim of this work is to present an original, relatively simple, and elegant approach to the analysis of long rectangular plates subjected to uniformly distributed vertical loads acting on various surfaces. Plate analysis is important in many fields, especially where components are either rectangular plates or can be approximated as such. The Transfer Matrix Method is increasingly used in research, as evidenced by the references cited. The advantages of this method lie in the simplicity of its algorithm, the ease of implementation in programming, and its straightforward integration into optimization software. The approach consists of discretizing the rectangular plate by sectioning it with planes parallel to the short sides—i.e., perpendicular to the two long edges. This results in a set of beams, each with a length equal to the width of the plate, a height equal to the plate’s thickness, and a unit width. Each unit beam has support at its ends that replicate the edge conditions of the plate along its long sides. In the study presented, the rectangular plate is embedded along its two long edges, meaning the unit beam is considered embedded at both ends. The Transfer Matrix Method is particularly valuable because it lends itself well to iterative calculations, making it easy to develop software capable of analyzing long rectangular plates quickly. This makes it especially useful for shape optimization applications, which we intend and hope to pursue in future studies.

This paper presents an original approach through Transfer-Matrix Method applied for the calculus of the continuous circular plate embedded at the exterior circumference, charged with asymmetrical uniform load on the entire upper surface of the plate. Continuous circular plates are elements often found in practice, in the machine building, aeronautics, chemical industries (the bottoms of chemical reactors), and in petrochemical, mechanical, robotic, medical, military, nuclear, and aerospace industries. The calculus of continuous circular plates is a special problem both from the point of view of the theory of elasticity and from the point of view of the mathematical approach. The results obtained with Transfer-Matrix Method were compared and validated with those obtained from classical analytical calculation, the Theory of Elasticity. Transfer-Matrix Method is an elegant method and relatively easy to program. In future research, we want to validate our results with those given by the Finite Elements Method and those measured experimentally.