Bending stress of beam in contact with a flat surface?

[cabellos6]

I am designing a spinal disc with 2 metal endplates. These endplates are rectangular in shape and are fixed to form a flat contact surface with the vertebrae bone surface.

My question is based on the bending stress of these metal endplates. I need to work out the possible thickness of these endplates. I understand how a beam can be modeled with simple supports, cantilever etc but in this case the endplate is flat pressed against a flat surface so contact is over the whole surface area and it is to support a compressive force in the centre of the endplate length L.

Please could anyone offer me suggestions as to how i could calculate this?

 

[member 553083]

One way to calculate the thickness of the endplates would be to use a finite element analysis (FEA) software. FEA is a computer simulation technique which can be used to understand the behavior of a design under different types of loading conditions, including bending and compressive forces. By applying various loads to the model, the stresses on the end plates can be determined, and the thickness of the material can then be adjusted accordingly to ensure that it meets the required strength criteria. Additionally, FEA can also be used to check for any potential failure points in the design, such as defects in the material or weak areas in the joint between the endplates.