Free vibration of antisymmetric,angle-ply laminated plates including transverse shear deformation by the finite element method

A finite element formulation of the equations governing the laminated anisotropic plate theory of Yang, Norris and Stavsky, is presented. The theory is a generalization of Mindlin's theory for isotropic plates to laminated anisotropic plates and includes shear deformation and rotary inertia effects. Finite element solutions are presented for rectangular plates of antisymmetric angle-ply laminates whose material properties are typical of a highly anisotropic composite material. Two sets of material properties that are typical of high modulus fiber-reinforced composites are used to show the parametric effects of plate aspect ratio, length-to-thickness ratio, number of layers and lamination angle. The numerical results are compared with the closed form results of Bert and Chen. As a special case, numerical results are presented for thick isotropic plates, and are compared with those for 3-D linear elasticity theory and Mindlin's thick plate theory.     

Dynamic responses of Reissner–Mindlin plates with free edges resting on tensionless elastic foundations

Dynamic response analysis is presented for a Reissner–Mindlin plate with four free edges resting on a tensionless elastic foundation of the Winkler-type and Pasternak-type. The mechanical loads consist of transverse partially distributed impulsive loads and in-plane static edge loads while the temperature field is assumed to exhibit a linear variation through the thickness of the plate. The material properties are assumed to be independent of temperature. The two cases of initially compressed plates and of initially heated plates are considered. The formulations are based on Reissner–Mindlin first-order shear deformation plate theory and include the plate–foundation interaction and thermal effects. A set of admissible functions is developed for the dynamic response analysis of moderately thick plates with four free edges. The Galerkin method, the Gauss–Legendre quadrature procedure and the Runge–Kutta technique are employed in conjunction with this set of admissible functions to determine the deflection-time and bending moment–time curves, as well as shape mode curves. An iterative scheme is developed to obtain numerical results without using any assumption on the shape of the contact region. The numerical illustrations concern moderately thick plates with four free edges resting on tensionless elastic foundations of the Winkler-type and Pasternak-type, from which results for conventional elastic foundations are obtained as comparators. The results confirm that the plate will have stronger dynamic behavior than its counterpart when it is supported by a tensionless elastic foundation.     

The dynamic transient analysis of axisymmetric circular plates by the finite element method

The linear elastic, dynamic transient, analysis of some circular plate bending problems is considered by using axisymmetric, parabolic isoparametric, elements with an explicit time marching scheme. The effects of rotatory inertia and transverse shear deformation are included. A special mass lumping scheme and the use of a reduced integration technique allow the treatment of thin as well as thick plates. Several numerical examples are presented and compared with results from other sources.     

Bending,vibration and buckling of simply supported thick multilayered orthotropic plates: An evaluation of a new displacement model

Based upon a piecewise linear displacement field which allows the contact conditions for the displacements and the transverse shearing stresses at the interfaces to be satisfied simultaneously, the non-linear (in the von Kármán sense) equations of motion for thick multilayered orthotropic plates are developed. Successively, the equations are specified to the linear boundary value problem of the bending and to the linear eigenvalue problems of the undamped vibration and buckling of rectangular plates. In order to assess the accuracy of the proposed theory, the sample problem of the bending, free undamped vibration and buckling of a three-layered, symmetric cross-ply, square plate simply supported on all edges is investigated. For purposes of comparison, numerical results from the exact elasticity theory, the classical lamination (Kirchhoff) theory and the shear deformation theory (Timoshenko and Mindlin) with three different values of the shear correction factor are also presented. It is found that the proposed approach is very efficient in predicting the global responses (deflection, natural frequencies and buckling loads) of thick multilayered plates and models effects, such as the distortion of the deformed normals, not attainable from the classical lamination theory, as well as the shear deformation theory.     

A variable kinematic Ritz formulation for vibration study of quadrilateral plates with arbitrary thickness

A new variable kinematic Ritz method applied to free vibration analysis of arbitrary quadrilateral thin and thick isotropic plates is presented. Carrera's unified formulation and the versatile pb-2 Ritz method are properly combined to build a powerful yet simple modeling and solution framework. The proposed technique allows to generate arbitrarily accurate Ritz solutions from a large variety of refined two-dimensional plate theories by expanding so-called Ritz fundamental nuclei of the plate mass and stiffness matrices. Theoretical development of the present methodology is described in detail. Convergence and accuracy of the method are examined through several examples on thin, moderately thick, and very thick plates of rectangular, skew, trapezoidal and general quadrilateral shapes, with an arbitrary combination of clamped, free and simply supported edges. Present results are compared with existing three-dimensional solutions from open literature. Maximum and average differences of various higher-order plate theories and three-dimensional results are also presented with the aim of providing useful guidelines on the choice of appropriate plate theory to get a desired accuracy on frequency parameters.     

A sector finite element for dynamic analysis of thick plates

A 24 degree of freedom sector finite element is developed for the static and dynamic analysis of thick circular plates. The element formulation is based on Reissner's thick plate theory. The convergence characteristic of the elements is first studied in a static example of an unsymmetrically loaded annular plate. The obvious advantageous effect of including the twist derivatives of deflection as degrees of freedom is shown. The elements are then used to analyze the natural frequencies of an annular plate with various ratios of inner to outer radius. The results are in good agreement with an alternative solution in which thick plate theory is used. The versatility of this finite element is finally demonstrated by performing free vibration analysis of an example of clamped sector plates with various thicknesses and different sectorial angles.     

The determination of electrical parameters of quartz crystal resonators with the consideration of dissipation

Recently, as the dissipation of quartz crystal through material viscosity is being considered in vibrations of piezoelectric plates, we have the opportunity to obtain electrical parameters from vibration solutions of a crystal plate representing an ideal resonator. Since the solutions are readily available with complex elastic constants from Mindlin plate equations for thickness-shear vibrations, the calculation of resistance and other parameters related to both mechanical deformation and electrical potential is straightforward. We start with the first-order Mindlin plate equations of a piezoelectric plate for the thickness-shear vibration analysis of a simple resonator model. The electrical parameters are derived with emphasis on the resistance that is related to the imaginary part of complex elastic constants, or the viscosity. All the electrical parameters are frequency dependent, enabling the study of the frequency behavior of crystal resonators with a direct formulation. Through the full consideration of complications like partial electrodes and supporting structures, we should be able obtain electrical parameters for practical applications in resonator design.     

Accurate free vibration analysis of thick laminated circular plates with attached rigid core

This paper deals with the free vibration behavior of laminated transversely isotropic circular plates with axisymmetric rigid core attached at the center. The governing equations of motion are obtained based on Mindlin's first-order shear deformation plate theory. Two possible categories of vibration modes related to up-down translation of the core and wobbly rotation of the core about a diameter are studied. Accurate natural frequencies hitherto not reported in the literature are presented for a wide range of thickness-to-radius ratio, inner-to-outer radius ratio, mass and moment of inertia ratios of the core and various boundary conditions at the outer edge of the plate. Numerical results are compared with those of a three-dimensional finite element method (3-D FEM) to demonstrate the high accuracy and reliability of the current analysis.     

Exact closed-form frequency equations for thick circular plates using a third-order shear deformation theory

This paper presents, for the first time, exact closed-form frequency equations and transverse displacement for thick circular plates with free, soft simply supported, hard simply supported and clamped boundary conditions based on Reddy's third-order shear deformation theory. Hamiltonian and minimum potential energy principles are used to extract the equations of dynamic equilibrium and natural boundary conditions of the plate. The new formulation is verified by comparing the results with their counterparts reported in open literature. Natural frequencies of circular plates with different boundary conditions are tabulated in dimensionless form for various values of thickness-radius ratios. The results presented on the basis of exact, closed-form frequency equations are expected to serve as reliable benchmarks.     

Sound radiation from shear deformable stiffened laminated plates

Sound radiation from shear deformable stiffened laminated plates is studied theoretically. The equations of motion for the composite laminated plate are derived on the basis of the first-order shear deformation plate theory. Two sets of parallel stiffeners interact with the laminated plate only through the normal line forces. By using the Fourier wavenumber transform and the stationary phase method, the far-field sound pressure is described analytically. Sound pressure given by the first-order shear deformation plate theory and the classical thin plate theory is compared, and the differences of sound pressure are shown in the high frequency range for an isotropic plate. Sound pressure and the transverse displacement spectra are presented to illustrate the effects of force location, stiffeners and angle-ply layers. Sound radiation from symmetric and antisymmetric composite plates with multiple loadings is also investigated.     

Effects of edge restraints on the non-linear flexural vibrations of an imperfect cross-ply laminated plate resting on an elastic foundation

A solution is presented, for the non-linear Marguerre dynamic equilibrium and compatability equations, for the large amplitude free flexural vibrations of an imperfect, cross-ply, laminated plate, having elastically restrained edges and resting on an elastic foundation. The analysis is used to study the effects of edge restraints and elastic foundation constants on the frequency ratios of isotropic and CFRP plates. Numerical results are presented graphically.     

Large amplitude free vibrations of annular plates of varying thickness

The non-linear (i.e., large deflection) free vibrations of thick, orthotropic annular plates with varying thickness are calculated. The formulation is based on the more general Reissner plate equations as well as the von Kármán plate equations for variable thickness annular plates. Numerical results for the ratio of the non-linear period to the linear period of natural vibration are compared with those existing in the literature. New results are also included for future comparisons.     

Thickness-shear vibration of a quartz plate connected to piezoelectric plates and electric field sensing

We study thickness-shear vibration of a quartz plate connected to two piezoelectric ceramic plates with initial deformations caused by a biasing electric field. The theory for small deformations superposed on finite biasing deformations in an electroelastic body is used. It is shown that the resonant frequencies of the incremental thickness-shear vibration of the quartz plate vary with the biasing electric field. The biasing electric field induced frequency shift depends linearly on the field. Therefore this effect may be used for electric field sensing. The dependence of the electric field induced frequency shift on various material and geometric parameters is examined. When the electric field is of the order of 100 V/mm, the relative frequency shift is of the order of 10⁻⁵. The case when the piezoelectric plates are replaced by piezomagnetic plates is also investigated for magnetic field sensing, and similar results are obtained.     

Shear deformable versus classical theories for nonlinear vibrations of rectangular isotropic and laminated composite plates

In the present study, (i) the classical Von Kárman theory, (ii) the first-order shear deformation theory and (iii) the higher-order (third-order) shear deformation theory are compared for studying the nonlinear forced vibrations of isotropic and laminate composite rectangular plates. In particular, the harmonic response in the frequency neighborhood of the fundamental mode of rectangular plates is investigated and the response curves computed by using the three different theories are compared. The boundary conditions of the plates are simply supported with immovable edges. Geometric imperfections are taken into account. Calculations for isotropic and laminated composite plates are presented and results are discussed. For isotropic plates, the frequency-response curves for large-amplitude vibrations obtained by using the three theories are almost coincident. For laminated composite plates, differences arise for relatively thick plates (ratio between the thickness and the edge equal to 0.1), while for thin plates (ratio between the thickness and the edge equal to 0.01), no difference is obtained. For all cases, the first-order shear deformation (with shear correction factor ) and the higher-order shear deformation theories give practically coincident results and differences are observed with respect to the classical Von Kárman theory.     

DETERMINATION OF ELASTIC CONSTANTS OF ANISOTROPIC LAMINATED PLATES USING ELASTIC WAVES AND A PROGRESSIVE NEURAL NETWORK

In this paper, a procedure is suggested to inversely determine the elastic constants of anisotropic laminated plates using a progressive neural network (NN). The surface displacement responses are used as the inputs for the NN model. The outputs of the NN are the elastic constants of anisotropic laminated plates. The hybrid numerical method (HNM) is used to calculate the displacement responses of laminated plates to an incident wave for given elastic constants. The NN model is trained using the results from the HNM. A modified back-propagation learning algorithm with a dynamically adjusted learning rate and an additional jump factor is developed to tackle the possible saturation of the sigmoid function and to speed up the training process for the NN model. The concept of orthogonal array was adopted to generate the representative combinations of elastic constants, which reduces significantly the number of training data while maintaining its data completeness. Once trained, the NN model can be used for on-line determination of the elastic constants if the dynamic displacement responses on the surface of the laminated plate can be obtained. The determined elastic constants are then used in the HNM to calculate the displacement responses. The NN model would go through a progressive retraining process until the calculated displacement responses using the determined results are sufficiently close to the actual responses. This procedure is examined for an actual glass/epoxy laminated plate. It is found that the present procedure is very robust and efficient for determining the elastic constants of anisotropic laminated plates.     

VIBRATION CHARACTERISTICS AND TRANSIENT RESPONSE OF SHEAR-DEFORMABLE FUNCTIONALLY GRADED PLATES IN THERMAL ENVIRONMENTS

Free and forced vibration analyses for initially stressed functionally graded plates in thermal environment are presented. Material properties are assumed to be temperature dependent, and graded in the thickness direction according to a simple power law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. Theoretical formulations are based on Reddy's higher order shear deformation plate theory and include the thermal effects due to uniform temperature variation. The plate is assumed to be clamped on two opposite edges with the remaining two others either free, simply supported or clamped. One-dimensional differential quadrature technique, Galerkin approach, and the modal superposition method are used to determine the transient response of the plate subjected to lateral dynamic loads. Comprehensive numerical results for silicon nitride/stainless-steel rectangular plates are presented in dimensionless tabular and graphical forms. The roles played by the constituent volume fraction index, temperature rise, shape and duration of dynamic loads, initial membrane stresses as well as the character of boundary conditions are studied. The results reveal that, when thermal effects are considered, functionally graded plates with material properties intermediate to those of isotropic ones do not necessarily have intermediate natural frequencies and dynamic responses.     

Localized bending waves in a transversely isotropic plate

The problem of bending waves localized near the free edge of a transversely isotropic plate is investigated using the Ambartsumian higher-order plate theory which takes account of the transverse shears generated by flexural deformation. Unlike the first-order Reissner-Mindlin theory, which also takes account of transverse shears, Ambartsumian's analysis does not demand that plane normal cross-sections remain plane during bending. Within this analysis the existence of localized bending waves in transversely isotropic plates is established, and solutions of the dispersion equation obtained for different values of the elastic parameters.The analysis of frequencies of localized bending waves shows that for thick plates the effect of anisotropy can be considerable. For the particular case of vibrations of a narrow plate, from the long wave approximation a new beam vibration equation of the Timoshenko type is obtained for a transversally isotropic plate.     

Geometrically nonlinear free vibration of shear deformable piezoelectric carbon nanotube/fiber/polymer multiscale laminated composite plates

The nonlinear free vibration of carbon nanotubes/fiber/polymer composite (CNTFPC) multi-scale plates with surface-bonded piezoelectric actuators is studied in this paper. The governing equations of the piezoelectric nanotubes/fiber/polymer multiscale laminated composite plates are derived based on first-order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT) and von Kármán geometrical nonlinearity. Halpin–Tsai equations and fiber micromechanics are used in hierarchy to predict the bulk material properties of the multiscale composite. The carbon nanotubes are assumed to be uniformly distributed and randomly oriented through the epoxy resin matrix. A perturbation scheme of multiple time scales is employed to determine the nonlinear vibration response and the nonlinear natural frequencies of the plates with immovable simply supported boundary conditions. The effects of the applied constant voltage, plate geometry, volume fraction of fibers and weight percentage of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on the linear and nonlinear natural frequencies of the piezoelectric nanotubes/fiber/polymer multiscale composite plate are investigated through a detailed parametric study.     

Free vibration analysis of plates by using a four-node finite element formulated with assumed natural transverse shear strain

A study on the free vibration analysis of plates is described in this paper. In order to investigate vibrational characteristics of plates, a four-node plate element is developed by using the assumed natural strains on the basis of Reissner-Mindlin (RM) assumptions which allows us to consider the shear deformation and rotatory inertia effect. All terms related to the plate finite element formulation are consistently defined in the natural domain. Assumed natural strains are derived to alleviate the locking phenomena inherited in the RM plate elements. In particular, the explicit expression of assumed natural transverse shear strain is described in this paper. The natural constitutive equation is used in conjunction with the natural strain terms. Several numerical examples are carried out and their results are then compared with the existing reference solutions.     

Free vibrations of a simply supported,rectangular plate: An exact elasticity solution

An exact, three-dimensional solution for the free vibrations of simply supported, rectangular plates of arbitrary thickness within the linear theory of elastodynamics is given in this paper. The solution, obtained in a semi-inverse fashion as was the solution of the elastostatic problem for such plates, satisfies all of the boundary conditions of the problem in a pointwise manner. It is found that there are two types of modes of oscillation possible which are consistent with the kinematic assumptions made to find the semi-inverse solution. Other modes of oscillation may exist in the three-dimensional theory of elastodynamics for such plates but our kinematic assumptions would not be consistent with such modes. The two types of modes found are analogous to the flexural modes of classical plate theory and the thickness-twist modes, here called breathing modes, of Mindlin plate theory. Some numerical results are given which indicate that the predictions of Mindlin plates are uncannily good approximations to the flexural frequencies given by the present, three-dimensional analysis even for very thick plates. However, the predictions of Mindlin plate theory for the thickness-twist, or breathing, frequencies are not nearly so good. These discrepancies are discussed briefly in an appendix.