why the depth of plate is not included in soil model while in parameter input the equivalent depth is calculated by EI and EA value?

Question

Greetings of the day. when I used plate element in soil model the depth of plate showed zero while in the input parameter the equivalent depth is calculated by EI value and EA value. what is the significant of this equivalent depth?

Dennis Waterman · Answer

Dear Shailja, 
 The equivalent thickness (it's not a depth) is necessary to calculate the structural forces from the stresses in the plate elements. The calculation in principle only calculates stresses in the plate cross section - in order to know the structural forces, these stresses need to be integrated over the cross section and to do that, we need to know how thick the cross section is. This "thickness" of the cross section is described by the equivalent thickness. 
 With kind regards, 
 Dennis Waterman