Transient and pseudo-transient analysis of Mindlin plates

A unified approach is presented for the static and transient dynamic linear and geometrically nonlinear analysis of Mindlin plates including initial imperfections. The effects of transverse shear deformation and rotatory inertia are automatically taken into account. A finite element idealization is adopted and the quadratic Lagrangian Mindlin plate element is used together with selective integration. Several numerical examples are presented and compared with results from other sources.     

Inelastic transient dynamic analysis of Reissner–Mindlin plates by the D/BEM

A direct domain/boundary element method (D/BEM) for dynamic analysis of elastoplastic Reissner–Mindlin plates in bending is developed. Thus, effects of shear deformation and rotatory inertia are included in the formulation. The method employs the elastostatic fundamental solution of the problem resulting in both boundary and domain integrals due to inertia and inelasticity. Thus, a boundary as well as a domain space discretization by means of quadratic boundary and interior elements is utilized. By using an explicit time‐integration scheme employed on the incremental form of the matrix equation of motion, the history of the plate dynamic response can be obtained. Numerical results for the forced vibration of elastoplastic Reissner–Mindlin plates with smooth boundaries subjected to impulsive loading are presented for illustrating the proposed method and demonstrating its merits. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Membrane-type eigenmotions of Mindlin plates

Summary A membrane analogy is presented for eigenvalue problems of simply supported Mindlin plates of arbitrary polygonal planform. Influence of hydrostatic inplane forces and Pasternak-type foundation of the plate domain is taken into account. Analytical results are derived in a non-dimensional form, which — using the analogous membrane eigenvalues as parameters — is independent of the special shape of the plate.With 2 Figures     

Vibration of stiffened skew Mindlin plates

Summary This paper presents a formulation for the free vibration analysis of skew Mindlin plates with intermediate parallel stiffeners attached in two directions. The Mindlin theory is used to account for the effects of transverse shear deformations and rotary inertia of the plate while the Engesser theory associated with the consideration of torsion is employed for stiffeners. Based on these two theories, the energy functionals for the plate system have been derived. To obtain the vibration frequencies, these energy functionals are minimized with the shape functions assumed in a set of two-dimensional mathematically complete polynomials. This procedure has been implemented numerically to compute the vibration solutions. Convergence studies have been performed to verify the accuracy of this method. Sets of first known results have been presented for several stiffened plate structures.     

Boundary element frequency domain formulation for dynamic analysis of Mindlin plates

A new boundary element formulation for analysis of shear deformable plates subjected to dynamic loading is presented. Fundamental solutions for the Mindlin plate theory are derived in the Laplace transform domain. The characteristics of the three flextural waves are studied in the time domain. It is shown that the new fundamental solutions exhibit the same strong singularity as in the static case. Two numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the accuracy of the boundary element method and comparisons are made with the finite element method. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Time-dependent static analysis of viscoelastic Mindlin plates by defining a time function

Mechanics of Time-Dependent Materials - This paper presents a new method for bending analysis of moderately thick viscoelastic plates using elasticity responses at asymptotic times. The...     

Further developments in three dimensional Eddy current analysis

A new formulation for solving the three dimensional eddy current problem was introduced at the last COMPUMAG meeting [1], which promised to be an optimal solution in terms of the number of degrees of freedom required. A package CARMEN has since been developed based on that formulation, and results for some test cases are presented, giving an indication of the possible applications of the package. A study of possible methodologies that could further reduce the number of degrees of freedom required in conducting regions is also included, with details of one such formulation.     

A finite element model for Mindlin plates

In the general framework of Reissner-Mindlin theory, a plate model based on certain potential functions is discussed, together with its mechanical interpretation. A finite element implementation is also described and numerical results are reported.     

DSC‐Ritz method for the free vibration analysis of Mindlin plates

This paper introduces a novel method for the free vibration analysis of Mindlin plates. The proposed method takes the advantage of both the local bases of the discrete singular convolution (DSC) algorithm and the pb‐2 Ritz boundary functions to arrive at a new approach, called DSC‐Ritz method. Two basis functions are constructed by using DSC delta sequence kernels of the positive type. The energy functional of the Mindlin plate is represented by the newly constructed basis functions and is minimized under the Ritz variational principle. Extensive numerical experiments are considered by different combinations of boundary conditions of Mindlin plates of rectangular and triangular shapes. The performance of the proposed method is carefully validated by convergence analysis. The frequency parameters agree very well with those in the literature. Numerical experiments indicate that the proposed DSC‐Ritz method is a very promising new method for vibration analysis of Mindlin plates. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Closed and approximate analytical solutions for rectangular Mindlin plates

Summary Basing on the Nádai-Lévy and the Vlasov-Kantorovich methods closed and approximate analytical solutions of Mindlin's plate equations in the case of rectangular plates are discussed. For elastic, homogeneous and isotropic plates three unknowns of the governing two-dimensional boundary value problem are formulated as series of products of functions depending on a single coordinate. Specifying the functions for one of the in-plane coordinate directions the governing partial differential equations for a special type of boundary conditions and the principle of virtual displacements for the general case yield a set of ordinary differential equations. The analytical solution of these equations provides expressions for functions depending on the other in-plane coordinate. For plates with simply supported edges for one of the coordinate directions and for arbitrary homogeneous boundary conditions for the other one the Nádai-Lévy method provides a closed or exact solution in the sense that the infinite series for displacements and stress resultants can be truncated to obtain any desired accuracy. In the general case of nonsimply supported edges the iterative Vlasov-Kantorovich method yields an approximate analytical solution. Both methods are nonsensitive to a reduction of the thickness with respect to accuracy and represent the boundary layer solutions in terms of exponential functions. Applications to rectangular plates with various types of boundary conditions are presented.     

Buckling of triangular Mindlin plates under isotropic inplane compression

Summary This paper considers the elastic buckling of triangular Mindlin plates under isotropic inplane compression. The total potential energy functional for the considered buckling problem is derived and the newly developedpb-2 Rayleigh-Ritz method is applied for the analysis. The method features thepb-2 Ritz function defined by the product of a two-dimensional polynomial function (p-2) and a basic function (b) formed from taking the product of the boundary equations with each equation raised to appropriate powers. New buckling results for isosceles and right-angled triangular Mindlin plates with various apex angles, thickness to width ratios and different combinations of edge conditions are presented. Such tabulated results are not only valuable to designers but also important to researchers as reference values for validating their numerical techniques and software packages.     

A study on the linear elastic stability of Mindlin plates

The debate on the performance of Lagrangian and Serendipity elements in Mindlin's plate theory has been going on for quite some time. Limited published results for static and vibration analysis based on exact integration demonstrated a drastic deterioration in accuracy as the thickness of the plate decreases, and reduced/selective integration schemes have been suggested to improve their performance. Appreciable improvement for Lagrangian elements has been recorded, but it is only marginal for the Serendipity elements. On the strength of such observations one would then be tempted to rule out the exact integration schemes and Serendipity elements. In this paper, the above problem is reviewed for stability analysis of plates. Two elements are chosen from each family, one representing the higher order and the other the lower order element. Contrary to published results, all elements can attain very accurate solutions independent of the integration schemes for a sufficiently restrained plate, although in general the Serendipity elements will require a more refined mesh than the Lagrangian ones. However, for loosely restrained plates, the solution failed when integration is performed by reduced/selective schemes. The failure marks the limitation of the reduced/selective schemes which have somehow introduced spurious modes into the system, but on the other hand it is ironical that these spurious modes in fact contribute to the improvement of performance of the restrained cases. Therefore, one can equally improve the Serendipity elements by a selective scheme which can introduce additional zero modes. A scheme based on (5 × 5) integration points for flexural stiffness and (3 × 3) integration points for shear stiffness improved the 17SE (Serendipity elements) remarkably. However, because of the lack of bounds in most cases, the use of reduced/selected schemes is still not recommended. Finally, this paper also proposed an approximate formulation of the geometric stiffness matrices to replace the full formulation. Such an approximate formulation reduces the number of variables considerably in the eigenvalue search and can still give reasonably accurate results for thin plates with a/t > 15.     

Exact solutions for free vibrations of orthotropic rectangular Mindlin plates

Exact closed-form solutions are obtained for free vibrations of orthotropic rectangular Mindlin plates by using the separation of variables method although it is difficult to solve them. The plates have two opposite edges simply supported and all possible combinations of classical boundary conditions at the other two edges. The exact solutions of orthotropic rectangular Mindlin plates are compared with those of isotropic ones and their differences are discussed. The exact solutions are validated through both mathematical proof and numerical comparisons with available p-Ritz solutions and the differential quadrature finite element method solutions calculated by the authors.     

Dynamic analysis of polygonal Mindlin plates on two-parameter foundations using classical plate theory and an advanced BEM

Forced vibrations of moderately thick plates on two-parameter, Pasternak-type foundations are considered. Influence of plate shear and rotatory inertia are taken into account according to Mindlin. Excitations are of the force as well as of the support motion type. Formulation is in the frequency domain. An analogy to thin plates without foundations is given. This analogy to classical plate theory is complete in the case of polygonal plan-forms and hinged support conditions. In that case the higher order Mindlin-problem is reduced to two (second order) Helmholtz-Klein- Gordon boundary value problems. An advanced BEM using Green's functions of rectangular domains is applied to the latter, thereby satisfying boundary conditions exactly as far as possible. This problem oriented strategy provides the frequency response functions for the deflection of the undamped Mindlin plate with high numerical accuracy. Structural damping is built in subsequently, and Fast Fourier Transform is applied for calculation of the transient response.Part of the paper has been presented at the IUTAM-Symposium Advanced BEM, San Antonio, Texas, 1987. Another part has been presented at the 6th Int. Conf. Numerical Methods for Geomechanics, Innsbruck, Austria 1988     

Dynamic (transient) analysis of layered anisotropic composite-material plates

A shear-flexible finite element is employed to investigate the transient response of isotropic, orthotropic and layered anisotropic composite plates. Numerical convergence and stability of the element is established using Newmark's direct integration technique. Numerical results for deflections and stresses are presented for rectangular plates under various boundary conditions and loadings. The parametric effects of the time step, finite element mesh, lamination scheme and orthotropy on the transient response are investigated. The present results agree very closely with the results available in the literature for isotropic plates, and the results for composite plates should serve as bench marks for future comparisons by other investigators.     

Dispersion analysis of stabilized finite element methods for acoustic fluid interaction with Reissner–Mindlin plates

The application of stabilized finite element methods to model the vibration of elastic plates coupled with an acoustic fluid medium is considered. A complex‐wavenumber dispersion analysis of acoustic fluid interaction with Reissner–Mindlin plates is performed to quantify the accuracy of stabilized finite element methods for fluid‐loaded plates. Results demonstrate the improved accuracy of a recently developed hybrid least‐squares (HLS) plate element based on a modified Hellinger–Reissner functional, consistently combined with residual‐based methods for the acoustic fluid, compared to standard Galerkin and Galerkin gradient least‐squares plate elements. The technique of complex wavenumber dispersion analysis is used to examine the accuracy of the discretized system in the representation of free waves for fluid‐loaded plates. The influence of fluid and coupling matrices resulting from consistent implementation of pressure loading in the residual for the plate equation is examined and clarified for the different finite element approximations. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Buckling and vibrations of two-directional FGM Mindlin circular plates under hydrostatic peripheral loading

An analysis is presented for the effect of hydrostatic peripheral loading on the free axisymmetric vibrations of functionally graded moderately thick circular plates on the basis of first-order shear deformation theory. The mechanical properties of the plate material are supposed to vary according to a power-law in both the radial and transverse directions. The numerical solution of the governing differential equation derived by using Hamilton's energy principle for such simply supported and clamped boundary conditions has been obtained employing the harmonic differential quadrature method choosing zeros of Chebyshev–Gauss–Lobatto as the grid points. The effect of different parameters has been analyzed on the frequency parameter for the first three modes of vibration. The critical buckling loads for both the plates have been computed by putting the frequencies to zero. Three-dimensional mode shapes for particular plate have been plotted. Obtained results have been compared.