Increase of the first natural frequency and buckling load of plates by optimal fields of initial stresses

Abstract

Departing from the common way of optimization of vibrating structures by an optimal mass distribution this paper deals with the problem of maximizing the fundamental frequency of structures by optimizing fields of initial stresses without varying the given appropriate shape of the structure. Thin elastic circular and rectangular plates are considered, which may be loaded by external inplane forces, and optimal initial membrane stress fields are calculated, which produce values of the first natural frequency of the free bending vibrations as high as possible. As a constraint, the strain energy caused by the field of initial stresses in the resting, externally unloaded plate is given. The computation leads to a max-min-problem solved numerically with the help of gradient methods. The optimal fields of initial stresses of the buckling plates are calculated as extreme cases in the same manner.