Plate Deflection Calculator

Simply Supported Rectangular Uniform Load

A rectangular plate simply supported around all four edges, carrying a uniformly distributed load across its full surface, is a common model for a floor plate, platform panel, or access cover resting in a frame and loaded by an evenly spread weight rather than a single point load. As with the concentrated-load case, the plate's aspect ratio strongly affects how the load distributes between the two spanning directions.

For the same plate and support condition under a concentrated load instead, see our Simply Supported Rectangular Concentrated Load calculator. For the same uniform load on a plate rigidly fixed at its edges, see Fixed Rectangular Uniform Load.

This calculator calculates the Maximum Deflection and Maximum Stress in a simply supported Rectangular 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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WIDTH: (W)

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LENGTH: (L)

MillimetresCentimetresMetresInches

UNIFORM LOAD: (P)

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MAXIMUM DEFLECTION :(ym)

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MAXIMUM STRESS : (sm)

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RELATED PAGES

• Simply Supported Rectangular, Concentrated Load
• Fixed Rectangular, Uniform Load

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How does a long, narrow plate behave differently from a square plate under the same uniform load?

A long, narrow rectangular plate spans predominantly across its shorter dimension, behaving similarly to a one-way spanning beam or slab strip, while a square plate shares the load more evenly between both directions — a square plate of the same short-dimension width will generally deflect less than a very long, narrow one under the same load per unit area.

What units should the uniform load be entered in?

As a pressure or load per unit area (e.g. kPa or lbf/in²), not a total load — double-check the calculator's input labels, since mixing up a total load with a distributed load value is a common source of error.