Structural intensity analysis of the cantilevered plate under thermal load

Abstract

Structural intensity of the cantilevered plate under thermal load is investigated. A hybrid method based on the modal expansions and the finite element method for controlling the vibrational energy flow pattern is presented. The structural intensity formulations of the plate under thermal load are expressed as the superposition of modal terms, and then the natural mode shapes and the natural frequencies are calculated. Finally, the modal coefficient formulations are given to determine the proper point excitation positions. In the structural intensity expansion, each modal term is a product of the function of natural mode shapes and the modal coefficient. The function of natural mode shapes determines the vibrational energy flow pattern, such as a vortex-typed pattern, a straight-typed pattern or others. Certain modal coefficient may be increased or decreased through choosing a proper point excitation position determined by the presented method, and then the vibrational energy flow pattern can be controlled. So the modal coefficient may be designed to adjust the vibrational energy flow pattern by changing the position of point excitation, and the influences of the thermal load on the natural mode shapes and structural intensity are analyzed. In particular, the streamline visualization technique is presented to obtain information on transmission paths of the vibration energy.