Free vibration analysis of rectangular plates with variable thickness using a meshless method

A generalized superposition method is presented in this paper for free bending vibration analysis of single rectangular plates and assemblies of rectangular plates with arbitrary boundary conditions. The method was developed on the basis of the Levy method, the principle of superposition, and the uniform convergence of half-range Fourier cosine series for continuous functions in a closed interval. Numerical results, obtained using the proposed method for thin isotropic plates and plate assemblies, show that the proposed method is accurate and rapidly convergent. The proposed method can be extended to handle vibration of moderately thick plates made of isotropic and orthotropic materials.

This paper is concerned with the vibration analysis of a simply-supported rectangular plate with a circular cutout. Even though there have been many methods developed for the free vibration of the rectangular plate with a rectangular cutout, very few research has been carried out for the rectangular plate with a circular cutout. In this paper, a new methodology called independent coordinate coupling method, which was developed to save the computational effort for the free vibration analysis of rectangular plate with a rectangular cutout, is applied to the case of circular cutout. The independent coordinate coupling method employs the global coordinate system for the plate and the local coordinate system for the cutout. In the case of the rectangular plate with a circular cutout, the global coordinate system is the Cartesian coordinate system and the local coordinate system is the polar coordinate system. By imposing the compatibility condition, the relationship between the global coordinates and the local coordinates is derived. This equation is then used for the calculation of the mass and stiffness matrices resulting in eigenvalue problem. The numerical results show the efficacy of the proposed method.

Semi-analytical modeling of cutouts in rectangular plates with variable thickness – Free vibration analysis

Three-dimensional vibration analysis of thick rectangular plates using Chebyshev polynomial and Ritz method

This article presents a simple and efficient procedure for the natural vibration analysis of rectangular plates and stiffened panels in contact with fluid on one side. The assumed mode method is applied, where the natural frequencies and mode shapes are obtained by solving an eigenvalue problem of a multi-degree-of-freedom system matrix equation derived by using Lagrange’s equation of motion. The Mindlin thick plate theory is applied for a plate, and in the case of stiffened panels, the effect of framing is taken into account by adding its strain and kinetic energies to the corresponding plate energies. Potential flow theory assumptions are adopted for the fluid, and free surface waves are ignored. The fluid velocity potential is derived from the boundary conditions for the fluid and structure and is utilized for the calculation of added mass using the assumed modes. The applicability and accuracy of the developed procedure are illustrated with several numerical examples using a developed in-house code. A comparison of the results with those obtained by general purpose finite element analysis software is provided, where very good agreement is achieved.

A mixed boundary node method is proposed for analyzing the free vibration of rectangular plates with variable thickness and general boundary conditions. The fundamental differential equations expressed by mixed variables are established and the unknown variables exist only on the partial boundary nodes. The relationship between the variables on the internal nodes and the pointed boundary nodes can be determined through using local regional integration and scanning technology. By utilizing boundary conditions, the discrete solutions for deflection of the plate with a concentrated load and arbitrary variable thickness are obtained and used to establish the eigen-value problem of matrix of the free vibration problem of plate. The convergence and accuracy of the numerical solutions for the natural frequency parameter calculated by the proposed method are investigated. The frequency parameters and their modes of free vibration are shown for some rectangular plates. words: mixed variable, boundary node, free vibration, variable thickness, general boundary condition.

Free vibration analysis of rectangular plates with variable thickness and point supports

Free vibration analysis of plates with openings represents an important issue in naval architecture and ocean engineering applications. Namely, they are often primary design members of complex structures and knowledge about their dynamic behavior becomes a prerogative for the proper structural design. This paper deals with application of assumed mode method to free vibration analysis of rectangular plates with multiple rectangular openings at arbitrary defined locations. Developed method can be applied to both thin and thick plates as well as to classical and non-classical edge constraints. In the assumed mode method natural frequencies and mode shapes of a corresponding plate are determined by solving an eigenvalue problem of a multi-degree-of-freedom system matrix equation derived by using Lagrange’s equations of motion. The developed procedure actually represents an extension of a method for the natural vibration analysis of rectangular plates without openings, which has been recently presented in the relevant literature. The effect of an opening is taken into account in a simple and intuitive way, i.e. by subtracting its energy from the total plate energy without opening. Illustrative numerical examples include dynamic analysis of rectangular plates with single and multiple rectangular openings with various thicknesses and different combinations of boundary conditions. Also, the influence of the rectangular opening area on the plate dynamic response is analyzed. The comparisons of the results with those obtained using the finite element method (FEM) is also provided, and very good agreement is achieved. Finally, related conclusions are drawn and recommendations for future investigations are presented.

In comparison with the transverse vibrations of rectangular plates, far less attention has been paid to the in-plane vibrations even though they may play an equally important role in affecting the vibrations and power flows in a built-up structure. In this paper, a generalized Fourier method is presented for the in-plane vibration analysis of rectangular plates with any number of elastic point supports along the edges. Displacement constraints or rigid point supports can be considered as the special case when the stiffnesses of the supporting springs tend to infinity. In the current solution, each of the in-plane displacement components is expressed as a 2D Fourier series plus four auxiliary functions in the form of the product of a polynomial times a Fourier cosine series. These auxiliary functions are introduced to ensure and improve the convergence of the Fourier series solution by eliminating all the discontinuities potentially associated with the original displacements and their partial derivatives along the edges when they are periodically extended onto the entire x-y plane as mathematically implied by the Fourier series representation. This analytical solution is exact in the sense that it explicitly satisfies, to any specified accuracy, both the governing equations and the boundary conditions. Numerical examples are given about the in-plane modes of rectangular plates with different edge supports. It appears that these modal data are presented for the first time in literature, and may be used as a benchmark to evaluate other solution methodologies. Some subtleties are discussed about corner support arrangements.

A nine-node isoparametric plate element in conjunction with first-order shear deformation theory is used for free vibration analysis of rectangular plates with central cutouts. Both thick and thin plate problems are solved for various aspect ratios and boundary conditions. In this article, primary focus is given to the effect of rotary inertia on natural frequencies of perforated rectangular plates. It is found that rotary inertia has significant effect on thick plates, while for thin plates the rotary inertia term can be ignored. It is seen that the numerical convergence is very rapid and based on comparison with experimental and analytical data from literature, it is proposed that the present formulation is capable of yielding highly accurate results. Finally, some new numerical solutions are provided here, which may serve as benchmark for future research on similar problems.

Free vibration analysis of rectangular plate with a hole by means of independent coordinate coupling method

Exact solutions for the free in-plane vibration of rectangular plates with two opposite edges simply supported

Performance of similitude methods for structural vibration analyses of rectangular plates

Flexural vibration of rectangular plates subjected to sinusoidally distributed compressive loading on two opposite sides

Free vibration analysis of rectangular plate with arbitrary edge constraints using characteristic orthogonal polynomials in assumed mode method