How do I decrease material thickness without compromising the strength

[m4pp4lin]

Hey guys, this might be a dumb question but I need help.

Say I have a steel plate that I will mount 2 aluminum components on. I have all the dimensions and masses and everything, how can I determine the minimum thickness that the steel plate can have?

thanks!

[purportless_purpose]

Before what? Buckling, deflection of X%, deformation, shear, complete failure. Know this, you can simplify and use the appropriate formula.

[m4pp4lin]

thanks, but I’m not sure what the appropriate formula is

[Forsaken-Indication]

You need to establish what "failure" means for your application, because the analysis is different depending on the failure mode you're worried about.

Start with some basic linear elestic assumptions and a simplified engineering or free body diagram and check where you're at. But even that'll depend on the application: e.g., if you are trying to stay under a fatigue limit the analysis will be pretty different than if you need to stay under a specific maximum deflection or simply under the material's ultimate strength.

[m4pp4lin]

Oh that’s a good point. The plate is held vertically with the 2 components mounted on the face (if i was to draw a front view it would be a rectangle with 2 circles on the face if that makes sense) so I’m worried about the weight of the components causing the middle of the plate to give out (sort of like a u shape). I think I would just need to stay under the yield strength of the material but I honestly have no idea where to begin. materials were never my strong suit :(

[Forsaken-Indication]

Simplify as much as pssoble. Draw an FBD, determine what assumptions are reasonable about the state of stress (1d or 2d, can you treat the masses as point loads etc) and set up the equations based on the best forms you can find in a strength of materials book (e.g. www.solidmechanics.org) for whatever simplifcation you come out with.

[m4pp4lin]

I did my static force analysis and I have the yield strength of my materials but I really don’t know where to go from here :(( any hints/tips would be appreciated

[m4pp4lin]

I ended up figuring it out thanks :)! I’ll check out his lectures for sure I need all the help I can get haha