A mixed differential quadrature and finite element free vibration and buckling analysis of thick beams on two-parameter elastic foundations

As a first endeavor, a mixed differential quadrature (DQ) and finite element (FE) method for boundary value structural problems in the context of free vibration and buckling analysis of thick beams supported on two-parameter elastic foundations is presented. The formulations are based on the two-dimensional theory of elasticity. The problem domain along axial direction is discretized using finite elements. The resulting system of equations and the related boundary conditions are discretized in the thickness direction and in strong-form using DQM. The method benefits from low computational efforts of the DQ in conjunction with the effectiveness of the FE method in general geometry and systematic boundary treatment resulting in highly accurate and fast convergence behavior solution. The boundary conditions at the top and bottom surface of the beams are implemented accurately. The presented formulations provide an effective analysis tool for beams free of shear locking. Comparisons are made with results from elasticity solutions as well as higher-order beam theory.     

Three-dimensional layerwise-finite element free vibration analysis of thick laminated annular plates on elastic foundation

Using a three-dimensional layerwise-finite element method, the free vibration of thick laminated circular and annular plates supported on the elastic foundation is studied. The Pasternak-type formulation is employed to model the interaction between the plate and the elastic foundation. The discretized governing equations are derived using the Hamilton’s principle in conjunction with the layerwise theory in the thickness direction, the finite element (FE) in the radial direction and trigonometric function in the circumferential direction, respectively. The fast rate of convergence of the method is demonstrated and to verify its accuracy, comparison studies with the available solutions in the literature are performed. The effects of the geometrical parameters, the material properties and the elastic foundation parameters on the natural frequency parameters of the laminated thick circular and annular plates subjected to various boundary conditions are presented.     

On the free vibration response of rectangular plates,partially supported on elastic foundation

Rectangular plates on distributed elastic foundations are widely employed in footings and raft foundations of variety of structures. In particular, mounted columns and single footings may partially occupy the rectangular plate of any kind.     

Modified mixed Ritz-DQ formulation for free vibration of thick rectangular and skew plates with general boundary conditions

Recently, the present authors proposed a simple mixed Ritz-differential quadrature (DQ) methodology for free and forced vibration, and buckling analysis of rectangular plates. In this technique, the Ritz method is first used to discretize the spatial partial derivatives with respect to a coordinate direction of the plate. The DQ method is then employed to analogize the resulting system of ordinary or partial differential equations. The mixed method was shown to work well for vibration and buckling problems of rectangular plates with simple boundary conditions. But, due to the use of conventional Ritz method in one coordinate direction of the plate, the geometric boundary conditions of the problem can only be satisfied in that direction. Therefore, the conventional mixed Ritz-DQ methodology may encounter difficulties when dealing with rectangular plates involving adjacent free edges and skew plates. To overcome this difficulty, this paper presents a modified mixed Ritz-DQ formulation in which all the natural boundary conditions are exactly implemented. The versatility, accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method for free vibration analysis of thick rectangular and skew plates are tested against other solution procedures. It is revealed that the proposed method can produce highly accurate solutions for the natural frequencies of thick rectangular plates involving adjacent free edges and skew plates using a small number Ritz terms and DQ sampling points.     

An efficient mixed methodology for free vibration and buckling analysis of orthotropic rectangular plates

In this paper, a simple and efficient mixed Ritz-differential quadrature (DQ) method is presented for free vibration and buckling analysis of orthotropic rectangular plates. The mixed scheme combines the simplicity of the Ritz method and high accuracy and efficiency of the DQ method. The accuracy of the proposed method is demonstrated by comparing the calculated results with those available in the literature. It is shown that highly accurate results can be obtained using a small number of Ritz terms and DQ sample points. The proposed method is suitable for the problem considered due to its simplicity and potential for further development.     

A mixed method for free and forced vibration of rectangular plates

This paper presents a very first combined application of Ritz method and differential quadrature (DQ) method to vibration problem of rectangular plates. In this study, the spatial partial derivatives with respect to a coordinate direction are first discretized using the Ritz method. The resulting system of partial differential equations and the related boundary conditions are then discretized in strong form using the DQ method. The mixed method combines the simplicity of the Ritz method and high accuracy and efficiency of the DQ method. The results are obtained for various types of boundary conditions. Comparisons are made with existing analytical and numerical solutions in the literature. Numerical results prove that the present method is very suitable for the problem considered due to its simplicity, efficiency, and high accuracy.     

Accurate vibration analysis of skew plates by the new version of the differential quadrature method

An accurate free vibration analysis of skew plates is presented by using the new version of the differential quadrature method (DQM). Eight combinations of simply supported (S), clamped (C) and free (F) boundary conditions are considered. Detailed solution procedures are given and key points for success by using the DQM are emphasized. A way to simplifying the programming in using the DQM is proposed. Convergence study is made for the simply supported skew plate with a large skew angle. Good convergence of frequencies is observed. The DQ results agree very well with the existing first known accurate upper bound solutions, obtained by using Ritz method taking into considerations of the bending stress singularities occurred at corners having obtuse angles. Since slight discrepancy between the DQ data and the known accurate solutions is observed for plates with large skew angles, the DQ results are also compared with data obtained by using finite element method with very fine meshes to verify their accuracy.     

Natural frequencies of a functionally graded cracked beam using the differential quadrature method

The present work is concerned with the free vibration analysis of an elastically supported cracked beam. The beam is made of a functionally graded material and rested on a Winkler–Pasternak foundation. The line spring model is employed to formulate the problem. The method of differential quadrature is applied to solve it. The obtained results agreed with the previous similar ones. Further, a parametric study is introduced to investigate the effects of the geometric and elastic characteristics of the problem on the values of natural frequencies and mode shape functions.     

3D free vibration analysis of laminated cylindrical shell integrated piezoelectric layers using the differential quadrature method

This paper addresses the free vibration problem of multilayered shells with embedded piezoelectric layers. Based on the three-dimensional theory of elasticity, an approach combining the state space method and the differential quadrature method (DQM) is used. The shell has arbitrary end boundary conditions. For the simply supported boundary conditions closed-form solution is given by making the use of Fourier series expansion. Applying the differential quadrature method to the state space formulations along the axial direction, new state equations about state variables at discrete points are obtained for the other cases such as clamped or free end conditions. Natural frequencies of the hybrid laminated shell are presented by solving the eigenfrequency equation which can be obtained by using edges boundary condition in this state equation. Accuracy and convergence of the present approach is verified by comparing the natural frequencies with the results obtained in the literatures. Finally, the effect of edges conditions, mid-radius to thickness ratio, length to mid-radius ratio and the piezoelectric thickness on vibration behaviour of shell are investigated.     

Development of a higher order finite element on a Winkler foundation

Analyzing thick plates as a construction component has been of interest to structural engineering research for several decades. In particular, thick plates resting on elastic foundations are more specific. Mindlin's plate theory for thick plate analysis and the Winkler theory for elastic foundation analyses have wide applications. The current research considers analysis of isotropic plates on a Winkler foundation according to Mindlin's plate theory. The analysis uses a higher order plate element to avoid shear locking phenomena in the plate. The main features of this element are representation of real displacement functions of the plate perfect and shear locking do not occur at the plates modeled with this element. Derivation of the equations for finite element formulation for thick plate theory uses fourth-order displacement shape functions. A computer program using the finite element method, coded in C++, analyzes the plates resting on an elastic foundation. The analysis involves a 17-noded finite element. The study's graphs and tables assist engineers' designs of thick plates resting on elastic foundations. The study concludes with the computer-coded program, which allows effective use for the shear locking-free analysis of thick Mindlin plates resting on elastic foundations.     

Free vibration and buckling analysis of plates using B-spline wavelet on the interval Mindlin element

A finite element method (FEM) of B-spline wavelet on the interval (BSWI) is used in this paper to solve the free vibration and buckling problems of plates based on Reissner–Mindlin theory. By aid of the high accuracy of B-spline functions approximation for structural analysis, the proposed method could obtain a fast convergence and a satisfying numerical accuracy with fewer degrees of freedoms (DOF). The numerical examples demonstrate that the present BSWI method achieves the high accuracy compared to the exact solution and others existing approaches in the literatures. The BSWI finite element has potential to be used as a numerical method in analysis and design.     

Nonlinear analysis of thin rectangular plates on Winkler–Pasternak elastic foundations by DSC–HDQ methods

This article introduces a coupled methodology for the numerical solution of geometrically nonlinear static and dynamic problem of thin rectangular plates resting on elastic foundation. Winkler–Pasternak two-parameter foundation model is considered. Dynamic analogues Von Karman equations are used. The governing nonlinear partial differential equations of the plate are discretized in space and time domains using the discrete singular convolution (DSC) and harmonic differential quadrature (HDQ) methods, respectively. Two different realizations of singular kernels such as the regularized Shannon’s kernel (RSK) and Lagrange delta (LD) kernel are selected as singular convolution to illustrate the present DSC algorithm. The analysis provides for both clamped and simply supported plates with immovable inplane boundary conditions at the edges. Various types of dynamic loading, namely a step function, a sinusoidal pulse, an N-wave pulse, and a triangular load are investigated and the results are presented graphically. The effects of Winkler and Pasternak foundation parameters, influence of mass of foundation on the response have been investigated. In addition, the influence of damping on the dynamic analysis has been studied. The accuracy of the proposed DSC–HDQ coupled methodology is demonstrated by the numerical examples.     

New benchmark solutions for free vibration of clamped rectangular thick plates and their variants

It is of significance to explore benchmark analytic free vibration solutions of rectangular thick plates without two parallel simply supported edges, because the classic analytic methods are usually invalid for the problems of this category. The main challenge is to find the solutions meeting both the governing higher order partial differential equations (PDEs) and boundary conditions of the plates, i.e., to analytically solve associated complex boundary value problems of PDEs. In this letter, we extend a novel symplectic superposition method to the free vibration problems of clamped rectangular thick plates, with the analytic frequency solutions obtained by a brief set of equations. It is found that the analytic solutions of clamped plates can simply reduce to their variants with any combinations of clamped and simply supported edges via an easy relaxation of boundary conditions. The new results yielded in this letter are not only useful for rapid design of thick plate structures but also provide reliable benchmarks for checking the validity of other new solution methods.     

Vibration analysis of rectangular plates coupled with fluid

The approach developed in this paper applies to vibration analysis of rectangular plates coupled with fluid. This case is representative of certain key components of complex structures used in industries such as aerospace, nuclear and naval. The plates can be totally submerged in fluid or floating on its free surface. The mathematical model for the structure is developed using a combination of the finite element method and Sanders’ shell theory. The in-plane and out-of-plane displacement components are modelled using bilinear polynomials and exponential functions, respectively. The mass and stiffness matrices are then determined by exact analytical integration. The velocity potential and Bernoulli’s equation are adopted to express the fluid pressure acting on the structure. The product of the pressure expression and the developed structural shape function is integrated over the structure-fluid interface to assess the virtual added mass due to the fluid. Variation of fluid level is considered in the calculation of the natural frequencies. The results are in close agreement with both experimental results and theoretical results using other analytical approaches.     

Finite element analysis of pressure vessel using beam on elastic foundation analysis

In this study, we first applied the variation principle to derive a new finite element method (FEM) based on the theory of beam on elastic foundation using line element. The derived FEM was then applied to solve, for the first time, the pressure vessel problems with uniform thickness. Our FEM results, obtained even by using only one line element, agreed exactly with the available closed-form solution, confirming the validity and computing efficiency of our finite element formulation. Moreover, we have applied our new FEM to solve pressure vessel problems with non-uniform thickness where no exact analytical solution is known to exist. The distributions of discontinuity stress in the cylindrical part were obtained. We found that shear force and bending moment were indeed discontinuous at the geometrically discontinuous juncture, due to the bending rigidity and elastic constant change by the non-uniform thickness. Finally, the case of discontinuity stresses in a bimetallic joint was also studied. The locations of maximum shear force and bending moment were found to be affected by the bending rigidity of the material.     

A quadrature finite element Galerkin scheme for a biharmonic problem on a rectangular polygon

A quadrature Galerkin scheme with the Bogner–Fox–Schmit element for a biharmonic problem on a rectangular polygon is analyzed for existence, uniqueness, and convergence of the discrete solution. It is known that a product Gaussian quadrature with at least three‐points is required to guarantee optimal order convergence in Sobolev norms. In this article, optimal order error estimates are proved for a scheme based on the product two‐point Gaussian quadrature by establishing a relation with an underdetermined orthogonal spline collocation scheme. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2008     

Limit analysis decomposition and finite element mixed method

This paper proposes an original decomposition approach to the upper bound method of limit analysis. It is based on a mixed finite element approach and on a convex interior point solver, using linear or quadratic discontinuous velocity fields. Presented in plane strain, this method appears to be rapidly convergent, as verified in the Tresca compressed bar problem in the linear velocity case. Then, using discontinuous quadratic velocity fields, the method is applied to the celebrated problem of the stability factor of a Tresca vertical slope: the upper bound is lowered to 3.7776-value to be compared to the best published lower bound 3.7752-by succeeding in solving a nonlinear optimization problem with millions of variables and constraints.     

Solution of free vibration equations of beam on elastic soil by using differential transform method

Free vibration differential equations of motion of one end fixed, the other simply supported and axial loaded beams on elastic soil is solved using differential transform method (DTM), analytical solution and frequency factors are obtained.     

Finite element buckling analysis of multi-layered graphene sheets on elastic substrate based on nonlocal elasticity theory

Graphene-polymer nano-composites are one of the most applicable engineering nanostructures with superior mechanical properties. In the present study, a finite element (FE) approach based on the size dependent nonlocal elasticity theory is developed for buckling analysis of nano-scaled multi-layered graphene sheets (MLGSs) embedded in polymer matrix. The van der Waals (vdW) interactions between the graphene layers and graphene-polymer are simulated as a set of linear springs using the Lennard-Jones potential model. The governing stability equations for nonlocal classical orthotropic plates together with the weighted residual formulation are employed to explicitly obtain stiffness and buckling matrices for a multi-layered super element of MLGS. The accuracy of the current finite element analysis (FEA) is approved through a comparison with molecular dynamics (MD) and analytical solutions available in the literature. Effects of nonlocal parameter, dimensions, vdW interactions, elastic foundation, mode numbers and boundary conditions on critical in-plane loads are investigated for different types of MLGS. It is found that buckling loads of MLGS are generally of two types namely In-Phase (INPH) and Out-of-Phase (OPH) loads. The INPH loads are independent of interlayer vdW interactions while the OPH loads depend on vdW interactions. It is seen that the decreasing effect of nonlocal parameter on the OPH buckling loads dwindles as the interlayer vdW interactions become stronger. Also, it is found that the small scale and polymer substrate have noticeable effects on the buckling loads of embedded MLGS.