Thanks for your help John. The example you supplied is not exactly what I am after, but its a start. Hopefully I will be able to go on and edit accordingly to suit my needs.

My problem has the plate fixed on all sides, well welded to stiffeners anyway, and a load only applied to one corner. This then uses the tension field of the plate to distribute the load, the compression zone is deemed to be not there. If I get anywhere with this I'll upload it in the future.

Of course if there is anyone who can offer some help, I'd be more than happy to accept it. In the meantime, back to scouring the web for info.

Gary