Abstract: For ultimate strength analysis of annular plates, the maximum bending moment is usually considered as a criterion. In this paper, the ultimate load of inner-edge-clamped, annular plates is evaluated based on the von Mises yield condition. The weighted residual method is employed to deal with the non-linearity resulting from the Mises yield condition. With reference to the boundary conditions and the equilibrium equations of moment, an appropriate trial function is chosen and the subdomain method is used to find the solution. Formulas and numerical results of the ultimate load are given for two typical linearly varying loads. The influence curve diagram for the ultimate load is plotted. Comparison is made with the results based on the maximum bending moment. The present approach is shown to be reasonable.