Plate Deflection Calculator

Simply Supported Circular Uniform Load

A circular plate simply supported around its edge, carrying a uniformly distributed load across its whole surface, models situations like a tank end, pressure vessel cover, or manhole cover under an evenly spread pressure load rather than a single point load. Compared to a centre point load of the same total force, a uniform load produces less deflection and lower peak stress, since the load is spread across the whole plate rather than concentrated at one point.

For the same load on a plate rigidly fixed around its edge instead, see our Fixed Circular Uniform Load calculator. For a concentrated load at the centre instead of a spread load, see Simply Supported Circular Centre Load.

This calculator calculates the Maximum Deflection and Maximum Stress in a simply supported Circular Plate with a Uniform Load.

Enter your values as required and press SOLVE, your results will be displayed. If you change any unit types or values please press SOLVE again.

CLEAR ALL clears all fields.

MATERIAL: Aluminium 2024-T4Aluminium 6061-T6Aluminium 7075-T3BrassCast IronCopperLeadMagnesiumPhosphur BronzeStainless Steel, 304Stainless Steel, 316Steel, S235Steel, S275Steel, S355Steel, 4130Steel, ASTM A36Steel, ASTM A441Titanium, Grade 2Titanium, Grade 5

THICKNESS: (T)

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DIAMETER: (D)

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UNIFORM LOAD: (P)

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MAXIMUM DEFLECTION: (ym)

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MAXIMUM STRESS : (sm)

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RELATED PAGES

• Fixed Circular, Uniform Load
• Simply Supported Circular, Centre Load

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is a uniform pressure load or an equivalent centre point load worse for a given plate?

A concentrated centre load produces significantly higher stress and deflection than a uniform load of the same total magnitude, since the uniform load's effect is spread across the whole plate rather than concentrated at a single point. If your actual load is somewhere between the two (partially spread), treat the centre-load result as the more conservative (worse-case) estimate.

What's a typical real-world example of this loading case?

A pressure vessel end cap or tank bottom under internal or hydrostatic pressure, or a large hatch cover loaded by an evenly distributed weight such as stacked material, are both good matches for this loading case.