Abstract: Based on Reissner-Mindlin plate theory,a meshless Kriging interpolation method (MKIM) is developed for bending of moderately thick plate.Corresponding discrete equations are derived.Approximation function in the method is built on a group of scattered nodes and therefore it can eliminate effectively complex meshing and disadvantage of mesh distortion.Compared with moving least squares (MLS) approximation widely used in meshless methods,shape functions constructed by moving Kriging interpolation method possess Kronecker delta property,which facilitates imposition of essential boundary conditions.High efficiency,good accuracy and easy implementation of the method in bending of moderately thick plate problem are demonstrated with numerical examples.

Key words: moderately thick plate, moving Kriging interpolation, meshless method, bending problem