Receptances of non-proportionally and continuously damped plates—Reduced dampers method

This paper presents a method for the dynamic analysis of continuously and non-proportionally damped plates in bending modes. The damping can be in the form of constrained or unconstrained layers. The method is an extension of the equivalent dampers method discussed in a previous paper, in which the damping matrix of a discretized plate is replaced by a diagonal equivalent damping matrix. Each diagonal element represents an equivalent damper inserted between the structure and ground. In this method the number of equivalent dampers is reduced so that the receptance matrix of the damped structure can be obtained economically by a direct matrix method. The receptances of two different partially coated plates in transverse directions are computed by the method suggested. The verification of the results is demonstrated by comparison with the experimental values and also with the theoretical values obtained by the equivalent dampers method. The method presented can also be applied to the transverse vibration analysis of plates with discrete damping inserts.