Transverse vibrations of circular plates of varying thickness with non-uniform edge constraints

Free vibrations of circular plates varying in thickness and with flexible edge supports have been studied by several investigators for the restricted case when the supports are represented by uniformly distributed springs of constant stiffness.In the present study an approximate method is presented for dealing with supports possessing rotational flexibility which varies arbitrarily around the boundary.The method consists in representing the varying stiffness in terms of a Fourier expansion in the polar angle and approximately expressing the displacement function using a summation of polynomial co-ordinate functions which exactly satisfies only the essential boundary condition. The Ritz method is then applied in order to obtain the frequency determinant. The method can be easily extended to the forced vibrations case.     

A reduction method for problems of vibration of orthotropic plates

It is shown that the problem of vibration of an orthotropic plate can be reduced to that of another orthotropic plate by a simple co-ordinate transformation, and reduction formulae are obtained. To justify the reduction formulae, fundamental natural frequencies of orthotropic rectangular plates with various boundary conditions and of a clamped orthotropic elliptical plate are discussed. As an example, an exact natural frequency of a simply supported generally orthotropic skew plate with special flexural rigidities is obtained from that of a simply supported isotropic rectangular plate.     

Non-linear axisymmetric vibration of orthotropic thin circular plates on elastic foundations

This study deals with the large amplitude axisymmetric free vibrations of cylindrically orthotropic thin circular plates resting on elastic foundations. Geometric non-linearity due to moderately large deflections has been included. Movable and immovable simply supported plates and immovable clamped plates resting on Winkler, Pasternak and non-linear Winkler foundations have been considered. The von Kármán type governing equations have been employed. Harmonic vibrations are assumed and the time t is eliminated by the Kantorovich averaging method. An orthogonal point collocation method is used for spatial discretization. Numerical results are presented for the linear natural frequency of the first axisymmetric mode and for the ratio of the non-linear period to the linear period of natural vibration. The effects of foundation parameters, the orthotropic parameter and the edge conditions on the non-linear vibration behaviour have been investigated.     

Effect of an elastic foundation on axisymmetric vibrations of polar orthotropic annular plates of variable thickness

Free axisymmetric vibrations of a polar orthotropic annular plate of linearly varying thickness resting on an elastic foundation of Winkler type are studied on the basis of classical theory of plates. The fourth order linear differential equation with variable coefficients governing the motion is solved by using the quintic spline interpolation technique for three different combinations of boundary conditions. The effect of the elastic foundation together with the orthotropy on the natural frequencies of vibration is illustrated for different values of the radii ratio and the thickness variation parameter for the first three modes of vibration. Transverse displacements and moments are presented for a specified plate. The validity of the spline technique is demonstrated by presenting a comparison of present results with those available in the literature.     

Free vibration of skew Mindlin plates by p-version of F.E.M.

Accurate natural frequencies and mode shapes of skew plates with and without cutouts are determined by p-version finite element method using integrals of Legendre polynomials for p=1-14. The hierarchical plate element is formulated based on Mindlin's plate theory including rotatory inertia effects and based on a skew co-ordinate system. Non-dimensional frequency parameter and mode shapes are presented for a range of skew angle (β), aspect ratio (a/b), thickness-width ratio (h/b), cutout dimensions and different boundary conditions. The results were verified by comparison with those available in the open literature.     

Vibration of plates elastically supported on a non-homogeneous foundation

This study deals with the determination of the fundamental frequency of vibration of circular and regular polygonal plates elastically supported over a non-homogeneous foundation. Both cases are tackled in a unified fashion by adopting polynomial co-ordinate functions and making use of the Ritz method to obtain the frequency equation.     

On the non-linear vibrations of rectangular plates

A solution, based on a one-term mode shape, for the large amplitude vibrations of a rectangular orthotropic plate, simply supported on all edges or clamped on all edges for movable and immovable in-plane conditions, is found by using an averaging technique that helps to satisfy the in-plane boundary conditions. This averaging technique for satisfying the immovable in-plane conditions can be used to resolve many anisotropic and skew plate problems where otherwise, when a stress function is used, the integration of the u and v equations becomes difficult, if not impossible. The results obtained herein are compared with those available in the literature for the isotropic case and excellent agreement is found. Results available for the one-term mode shape solutions of these problems are compared and the non-linear effect is presented as functions of aspect ratio and of the orthotropic elastic constants of the plate. The results are further compared with those based on the Berger method and the detailed comparative studies show that the use of the Berger approximation for large deflection static and dynamic problems and its extension to anisotropic plates, skew plates, etc., can lead to quite inaccurate results.     

On the effect of different edge flexibility coefficients on transverse vibrations of thin,rectangular plates

To solve problems of transverse vibration of thin, rectangular plates with different edge flexibility coefficients polynomial co-ordinate functions are used which identically satisfy the boundary conditions. It is shown that by a proper combination of the polynomials several modes of vibrations can be analyzed with a minimum amount of labour. A variational formulation is used to generate the frequency equation. Eigenvalues calculated by using a two-term approximation seem to possess extremely good accuracy, at least from an engineering viewpoint. It is also shown that the effect of in-plane forces or the case where the plate is supported on a Winkler-type foundation can be studied without any formal difficulties.     

The flexural vibration of rectangular plates with point supports

Orthogonally generated polynomial functions are used in the Lagrangian multiplier method to study the free, flexural vibration problem of point supported, thin, flat, rectangular plates. The analysis applies to isotropic and specially orthotropic plates having any combination of clamped, simply supported or free edges with arbitrarily located point supports and to plates which are continuous over line supports parallel to the plate edges. Numerical results are presented for a number of specific problems, illustrating the accuracy and versatility of the approach, and which include natural frequencies and nodal patterns for a point supported plate which is continuous over two perpendicular line supports.     

Non-linear axisymmetric transient analysis of orthotropic thin annular plates with a rigid central mass

The geometrically non-linear, axisymmetric transient elastic response is determined of cylindrically orthotropic thin annular plates with a rigid central mass subjected to a uniformly distributed load on the plate as well as a central load on the rigid mass. The dynamic analogue of the von Kármán equations in terms of the normal displacement w and the stress function Ψ are employed. The displacement w and stress function Ψ are expanded in finite power series and the orthogonal point collocation method in the space domain and the Newmark β scheme in the time domain are used. The response of isotropic and orthotropic, clamped as well as simply supported, annular plates with a rigid central mass, subjected to step function and sinusoidal pulse loads, has been calculated for two values of the annular ratio. The influence of the mass ratio and the magnitude of the step load on the deflection response has been determined. The effect of mass ratio, amplitude and duration of sinusoidal pulse on the deflection response has also been studied.     

Free vibration of continuous polar orthotropic annular and circular plates

The free vibration of a polar orthotropic annular plate supported on concentric circles is analyzed by the Ritz method with use of Lagrange multipliers. A trial function for the deflection of the plate is expressed in terms of simple power series, and a frequency equation for the plate is derived by the condition for minimizing the total potential energy with the constraint equations included. In the numerical examples it is also shown that the method can directly yield quite accurate frequency values for a solid circular plate. Natural frequencies of annular and circular plates are calculated for wide ranges of the support location and orthotropic parameters.     

Axisymmetric vibrations of polar orthotropic mindlin annular plates of variable thickness

Analysis and numerical results are presented for the axisymmetric vibrations of polar orthotropic annular plates with linear variation in thickness, according to Mindlin's shear theory of plates. A chebyshev collocation technique has been employed to obtain the frequency equations for the transverse motion of such plates, for three different boundary conditions. Frequencies, mode shapes and moments for the first three modes of vibration have been computed for different plate parameters. A comparison of frequencies with the corresponding values obtained by classical plate theory leads to some interesting conclusions.     

Non-linear axisymmetric transient analysis of an orthotropic thin circular plate with an elastically restrained edge

Results are presented for the geometrically non-linear axisymmetric transient elastic stress and deflection responses of a cylindrically orthotropic thin circular plate with an elastically restrained edge, including both rotational and in-plane displacements. In the analysis the dynamic analogue of the von Kárman governing differential equations in terms of the normal displacement w and the stress function ψ are employed. The displacement w and stress function ψ are expanded in finite power series. The orthogonal point collocation method in the space domain and the Newmark-β scheme in the time domain are used. Four types of uniformly distributed transient loadings have been considered: step function, sinusoidal and N-shaped pulses, and exponentially decaying loads. The influence of the orthotropic parameter β and the elastic rotational and in-plane edge restraint parameters (K_b, K_i) on the large amplitude response has been investigated. The effect of a prescribed in-plane displacement on the non-linear transient response has also been studied.     

GEOMETRICALLY NON-LINEAR FREE VIBRATION OF FULLY CLAMPED SYMMETRICALLY LAMINATED RECTANGULAR COMPOSITE PLATES

The geometrically non-linear free vibration of thin composite laminated plates is investigated by using a theoretical model based on Hamilton's principle and spectral analysis previously applied to obtain the non-linear mode shapes and resonance frequencies of thin straight structures, such as beams, plates and shells (Benamar et al. 1991Journal of Sound and Vibration149 , 179-195; 1993, 164, 295-316; 1990 Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Recent Advances in Structural Dynamics, Southampton; Moussaoui et al. 2000 Journal of Sound and Vibration232, 917-943 [1-4]). The von Kármán non-linear strain-displacement relationships have been employed. In the formulation, the transverse displacement W of the plate mid-plane has been taken into account and the in-plane displacements U and V have been neglected in the non-linear strain energy expressions. This assumption, quite often made in the literature has been adopted in reference [2] and (El Kadiri et al. 1999 Journal of Sound and Vibration228, 333-358 [5]), in the isotropic case and has been mentioned here because the results obtained have been found to be in very good agreement with those based on the hierarchical finite element method (HFEM). In a previous study, it was assumed, based on the analogy with the isotropic case, that the fundamental carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) plate non-linear mode shape could be well estimated, by using nine plate functions, obtained as products of clamped-clamped beam functions in the x and y directions, symmetric in both the length U001and width directions [3]. In the present work, a convergence study has been performed and has shown that, although such an assumption may yield a good estimate for the non-linear resonance frequency, 18 plate functions should be taken into account instead of nine in the first non-linear mode shape and associated bending stress patterns calculations. This allows the anisotropy induced by the fibre orientations to be taken into account. Results are given for the fundamental mode of fully clamped CFRP rectangular plates, for various plate aspect ratios and vibration amplitudes. The non-linear mode shows a higher bending stress near the clamps at large deflection, compared with that predicted by linear theory. Some experimental measurements are presented which are in good qualitative agreement with the theory.     

Transverse vibrations of thin,elastic plates with concentrated masses and internal elastic supports

The fundamental frequency of vibration of a plate carrying concentrated masses and with internal elastic supports is determined. The case of an orthotropic, rectangular plate elastically restrained against rotation along the four edges is tackled first by using simple polynomial approximations and the Galerkin method. Then, vibrations of clamped and simply supported isotropic plates of regular polygonal shape are studied by using the conformal mapping technique coupled with the variational method. Finally the case of a circular plate elastically restrained against translation and rotation is considered.     

Measurement of relevant elastic and damping material properties in sandwich thick plates

An easy-to-implement method to measure relevant elastic and damping properties of the constituents of a sandwich structure, possibly with a heterogeneous core, is proposed. The method makes use of a one-point dynamical measurement on a thick-plate. The hysteretic model for each (possibly orthotropic) constituent is written generically as “E(1+jη)” for all mechanical parameters. The estimation method of the parameters relies on a mixed experimental/numerical procedure. The frequencies and dampings of the natural modes of the plate are obtained from experimental impulse responses by means of a high-resolution modal analysis technique. This allows for considerably more experimental data to be used. Numerical modes (frequencies, dampings, and modal shapes) are computed by means of an extended Rayleigh-Ritz procedure under the “light damping” hypothesis, for given values of the mechanical parameters. Minimising the differences between the modal characteristics yields an estimation of the values of the mechanical parameters describing the hysteretic behaviour. A sensitivity analysis assesses the reliability of the method for each parameter. Validations of the method are proposed by (a) applying it to virtual plates on which a finite-element model replaces the experimental modal analysis, (b) some comparisons with results obtained by static mechanical measurements, and (c) by comparing the results on different plates made of the same sandwich material.     

Vibrations of heated plates with two opposite edges simply supported

Vibration analysis of the family of rectangular plates with two opposite sides simply supported can be simplified by assuming mode shapes. In the present paper a vibration analysis of such plates which are heated so as to have a temperature varying in the direction parallel to these sides is presented. A steady state temperature which satisfies the Laplace equation is considered. Due to the assumption of mode shapes the governing plate differential equation, which in general is a function of the x and y co-ordinates, becomes a function of one co-ordinate. This equation is analyzed by a finite difference method and solved by a standard simultaneous iteration technique. The accuracy of the method is ascertained by comparing the results for some well known boundary conditions when there is no temperature effect with the standard solutions available in the literature. From the results an attempt has been made to correlate the natural frequency with the temperature. Plates of uniform thickness with different length to breadth ratios have been analyzed. The assumed linear temperature distribution satisfies the Laplace equation and the plate is free to expand in its plane at its edges so that no thermal stresses will be induced.     

Vibrations of rectangular plates of bilinearly varying thickness and with general boundary conditions

Results are presented for the fundamental frequency of a rectangular plate having a thickness which varies in a bilinear fashion in the x-direction. Translational and rotational flexibilities are taken into account at all edges. A simple algorithm, which allows one to evaluate the fundamental frequency of vibration, is derived by making use of the Ritz method and expressing the fundamental displacement function in terms of a polynomial co-ordinate function which satisfies approximately the natural boundary conditions.     

Transverse vibrations of plates with stepped thickness over a concentric circular region

This paper deals with the determination of the fundamental frequency of vibration of: (a) rectangular, (b) regular polygonal and (c) circular plates with stepped thickness over a concentric, circular subdomain of the plates. The problems are solved in a unified fashion by adopting simple polynomial co-ordinate functions and making use of the Ritz method to generate the frequency determinant.