A non-classical model for an orthotropic Kirchhoff plate embedded in a viscoelastic medium

Abstract

A non-classical model for an orthotropic Kirchhoff plate embedded in a viscoelastic medium is developed by using an extended version of the modified couple stress theory and a three-parameter foundation model. The equations of motion and the boundary conditions are simultaneously obtained through a variational formulation based on Hamilton’s principle. The new plate model contains three material length scale parameters to capture the microstructure effect, one damping coefficient to account for the viscoelastic damping effect, and two foundation moduli to represent the foundation effect. The current non-classical orthotropic plate model includes the isotropic plate model incorporating the microstructure effect and the classical elasticity-based orthotropic plate model as special cases. To illustrate the new model, the static bending and free vibration problems of a simply supported orthotropic plate are analytically solved by directly applying the general formulas derived. For the static bending problem, the numerical results reveal that the deflection of the simply supported plate predicted by the current model is smaller than that predicted by the classical model, and the difference is large when the plate thickness is small but diminishes as the thickness becomes large. For the free vibration problem, it is found that the natural frequency predicted by the new plate model with or without the foundation is higher than that predicted by the classical plate model, and the difference is significant for very thin plates. In addition, the damping ratio predicted by the new plate model is lower than that predicted by the classical plate model, and the difference is diminishing as the plate thickness increases. These predicted trends of the size effect at the micron scale agree with those observed experimentally. Furthermore, it is quantitatively shown that the presence of the foundation enlarges the plate natural frequency.