Frequency Equations and Modes of Free Vibrations of Rectangular Plates with Various Edge Conditions

Abstract

This paper considers linear free vibrations of thin isotropic rectangular plates with combinations of the classical boundary conditions of simply supported, clamped and free edges and the mathematically possible condition of guided edges. The total number of plate configurations with the classical boundary conditions are known to be twenty-one. The inclusion of the guided edge condition gives rise to an additional thirty-four plate configurations. Of these additional cases, twenty-one cases have exact solutions for which frequency equations in explicit or transcendental form may be obtained. The frequency equations of these cases are given and, for each case, results of the first nine mode frequencies are tabulated for a range of the plate aspect ratios.