Vibration and damping analysis of multilayered rectangular plates with constrained viscoelastic layers

Governing equations of motion for vibrations of a general multilayered plate consisting of an arbitrary number of alternate stiff and soft layers of orthotropic materials are derived by using variational principles. Extension, bending and in-plane shear deformations in stiff layers and only transverse shear deformations in soft layers are considered as in conventional sandwich structural analysis. In addition to transverse inertia, longitudinal translatory and rotary inertias are included, as such analysis gives higher order modes of vibration and leads to accurate results for relatively thick plates. Vibration and damping analysis of rectangular simply supported plates consisting of alternate elastic and viscoelastic layers is carried out by taking a series solution and applying the correspondence principle of linear viscoelasticity. The damping effectiveness, in term of the system loss factor, for all families of modes for three-, five- and seven-layered plates is evaluated and its variations with geometrical and material property parameters are investigated.     

Free vibration analysis of continuous rectangular plates

Vibration characteristics of rectangular plates continuous over full range line supports or partial line supports have been studied by using a discrete method. Concentrated loads with Heaviside unit functions and Dirac delta functions are used to simulate the line supports. The fundamental differential equations are established for the bending problem of the continuous plate. By transforming these differential equations into integral equations and using the trapezoidal rule of the approximate numerical integration, the solution of these equations is obtained. Green function which is the solution of deflection of the bending problem of plate is used to obtain the characteristic equation of the free vibration. The effects of the line support, the variable thickness and aspect ratio on the frequencies and mode shapes are considered. By comparing the numerical results obtained by the present method with those previously published, the efficiency and accuracy of the present method are investigated.     

Analytical modeling and vibration analysis of internally cracked rectangular plates

This study proposes an analytical model for nonlinear vibrations in a cracked rectangular isotropic plate containing a single and two perpendicular internal cracks located at the center of the plate. The two cracks are in the form of continuous line with each parallel to one of the edges of the plate. The equation of motion for isotropic cracked plate, based on classical plate theory is modified to accommodate the effect of internal cracks using the Line Spring Model. Berger?s formulation for in-plane forces makes the model nonlinear. Galerkin?s method used with three different boundary conditions transforms the equation into time dependent modal functions. The natural frequencies of the cracked plate are calculated for various crack lengths in case of a single crack and for various crack length ratio for the two cracks. The effect of the location of the part through crack(s) along the thickness of the plate on natural frequencies is studied considering appropriate crack compliance coefficients. It is thus deduced that the natural frequencies are maximally affected when the crack(s) are internal crack(s) symmetric about the mid-plane of the plate and are minimally affected when the crack(s) are surface crack(s), for all the three boundary conditions considered. It is also shown that crack parallel to the longer side of the plate affect the vibration characteristics more as compared to crack parallel to the shorter side. Further the application of method of multiple scales gives the nonlinear amplitudes for different aspect ratios of the cracked plate. The analytical results obtained for surface crack(s) are also assessed with FEM results. The FEM formulation is carried out in ANSYS.     

Accurate vibration analysis of thick, cracked rectangular plates

This work applies the Ritz method to accurately determine the frequencies and nodal patterns of thick, cracked rectangular plates analyzed using Mindlin plate theory. Two types of cracked configuration are considered, namely, side crack and internal crack. To enhance the capabilities of the Ritz method in dealing with cracked plates, new sets of admissible functions are proposed to represent the behaviors of true solutions along the crack. The proposed admissible functions appropriately describe the stress singularity behaviors around a crack tip and the discontinuities of transverse displacement and bending rotations across the crack. The present solutions monotonically converge to the exact frequencies as upper bounds when the number of admissible functions increases. The validity and accuracy of the present solutions are confirmed through comprehensive convergence studies and comparison with the published results based on the classical thin plate theory. The proposed approach is further employed to investigate the effects of the length, location, and orientation of crack on frequencies and nodal patterns of simply supported and cantilevered cracked rectangular plates. The results shown are the first ones available in the published literature.     

Rayleigh-Ritz vibration analysis of rectangular Mindlin plates subjected to membrane stresses

A previously developed analysis of the flexural vibration of isotropic rectangular plates is extended to include the presence of a membrane stress system. The method of analysis is the Rayleigh-Ritz method and Mindlin plate theory is used which takes into account effects which are disregarded in the classical plate theory. As in the aforementioned earlier analysis the spatial variations of the deflection and two rotations over the plate middle surface are based on the use of Timoshenko beam functions. The membrane stress system comprises biaxial direct stress plus in-plane shearing stress and is uniform throughout the plate. Numerical results are presented for a number of types of plate and of applied stress which show the manner of variation of the frequencies of vibration as the intensity of stress changes. This manner of variation is similar in form to that demonstrated elsewhere by analyses based on the use of the classical plate theory but the magnitudes of the present calculated frequencies are considerably reduced for moderately thick plates.     

The flexural vibration of welded rectangular plates

A theoretical and experimental study of the effect of weld runs on the flexural vibrational characteristics of the common structural element, the rectangular plate, is described. A finite difference technique is utilized for the determination of the in-plane residual stress pattern due to the weld(s) and the Rayleigh-Ritz method, with beam characteristic functions, is used for the out-of-plane vibration analysis. The theoretical approach presented is applicable to rectangular plates of any practical aspect ratio, having any combination of out-of-plane boundary conditions for which beam functions may reasonably be used and subject to one or more weld runs parallel to any edge. Theoretical and experimental results for a number of specific plates are presented, demonstrating the effects of welding on the plate vibration and the capability and accuracy of the analytical approach in predicting these effects. Included is a study of the effect of using the full residual stress pattern as derived from the finite difference analysis, the effect of neglecting certain stress components and the effect of using simplified stress patterns developed primarily for the stress and buckling analysis of long plates.     

Free vibration of rectangular plates of arbitrary thickness

Free vibration of thick rectangular plates is investigated by using the “method of initial functions” proposed by Vlasov. The governing equations are derived from the three-dimensional elastodynamic equations. They are obtained in the form of series and theories of any desired order can be constructed by deleting higher terms in the infinite order differential equations. The numerical results are compared with those of classical, Mindlin, and Lee and Reismann solutions.     

Free vibration analysis of corner-supported rectangular plates with symmetrically distributed edge beams

Analytical type solutions are obtained for the free vibration frequencies and mode shapes of thin corner-supported rectangular plates with symmetrically distributed reinforcing beams, or strips, attached to the plate edges. The method of superposition is employed. Equations governing reactions at plate-beam interfaces are developed in dimensionless form. The approach is comprehensive in that both lateral and rotational stiffness, and inertia, of the beam are incorporated into the analysis. For illustrative purposes computed eigenvalues and mode shapes are presented for two plate-beam systems of realistic geometries. It is shown that the method is easily extended to cover the case where the edge beams do not have a symmetrical distribution. This appears to be the first comprehensive analytical study of this problem of industrial interest.     

Three-dimensional free vibration analysis of isotropic rectangular plates using the B-spline Ritz method

This paper presents three-dimensional free vibration analysis of isotropic rectangular plates with any thicknesses and arbitrary boundary conditions using the B-spline Ritz method based on the theory of elasticity. The proposed method is formulated by the Ritz procedure with a triplicate series of B-spline functions as amplitude displacement components. The geometric boundary conditions are numerically satisfied by the method of artificial spring. To demonstrate the convergence and accuracy of the present method, several examples with various boundary conditions are solved, and the results are compared with other published solutions by exact and other numerical methods based on the theory of elasticity and various plate theories. Rapid, stable convergences as well as high accuracy are obtained by the present method. The effects of geometric parameters on the vibrational behavior of cantilevered rectangular plates are also investigated. The results reported here may serve as benchmark data for finite element solutions and future developments in numerical methods.     

Transverse vibration of clamped trapezoidal plates having rectangular orthotropy

This paper deals with the free transverse vibration of orthotropic trapezoidal plates clamped at the edges. A series-type method is applied for obtaining an analytical solution of the problem, and the resulting frequency equation is presented for symmetric trapezoids. In the numerical study, accurate frequency parameters and mode shapes of the plates are calculated for the first several modes, and the effects of the orthotropy are discussed.     

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.     

Free vibration analysis of rectangular plates with symmetrically distributed point supports along the edges

In this paper a highly accurate mathematical technique for establishing the free vibration eigenvalues and mode shapes of rectangular plates with symmetrically distributed point supports is introduced. The method is based on the principle of superposition and it constitutes, in essence, an extension of a technique described earlier for the analysis of completely free plates. Eigenvalues, covering numerous modes and aspect ratios, are tabulated for corner supported rectangular plates. It is seen that with some modifications the method is equally applicable to problems where the point supports are not symmetrically distributed.     

Free vibration analysis of beams and rectangular plates with free edges by the discrete singular convolution

In this paper, free vibration of beams, annular plates, and rectangular plates with free boundaries are analyzed by using the discrete singular convolution (DSC). A novel method to apply the free boundary conditions is proposed. Detailed derivations are given. To validate the proposed method, eight examples, including the free vibrations of beams, annular plates and rectangular plates with free boundaries are analyzed. Two kernels, the regularized Shannon's kernel and the non-regularized Lagrange's delta sequence kernel, are tested. DSC results are compared with either analytical solutions or/and differential quadrature (DQ) data. It is demonstrated that the proposed method to incorporate the free boundary conditions is simple to use and can yield accurate frequency data for beams with a free end and plates with free edges. Thus, the proposed method for applying the boundary conditions extends the application range of the DSC.     

Vibration and damping analysis of annular plates with constrained damping layer treatments

The natural frequencies and modal loss factors of annular plates with fully and partially constrained damping treatments are considered. The equations of free vibration of the plate including the transverse shear effects are derived by a discrete layer annular finite element method. The extensional and shear moduli of the viscoelastic material layer are described by the complex quantities. Complex eigenvalues are then found numerically, and from these, both frequencies and loss factors are extracted. The effects of viscoelastic layer stiffness and thickness, constraining layer stiffness and thickness, and treatment size on natural frequencies and modal loss factors are presented. Numerical results also show that the longer constrained damping treatment in radial length does not always provide better damping than the shorter ones.