Free vibration analysis of arbitrary shaped thick plates by differential cubature method

In this paper, a new numerical solution technique, the differential cubature method, is applied to solve the free vibration problems of arbitrary shaped thick plates. The basic idea of the differential cubature method is to express a linear differential operation such as a continuous function or any order of partial derivative of a multivariable function, as a weighted linear sum of discrete function values chosen within the overall domain of a problem. By using the differential cubature procedure, the governing differential equations and boundary conditions are transformed into sets of linear homogeneous algebraic equations. This is an eigenvalue problem, of which the eigenvalues can be calculated numerically. The subspace iterative method is employed in search of the free vibration frequency parameters. Detailed formulations are presented, and the method is examined here for its suitability for solving the vibration problems of moderately thick plates governed by Mindlin shear deformation theory. The applicability, efficiency and simplicity of the method are demonstrated through solving some example plate vibration problems of different shapes. The numerical accuracy of the method is ascertained by comparing the vibration frequency solutions with those of existing literatures.     

Free vibration of cantilevered symmetrically laminated thick trapezoidal plates

To account for the effect of transverse shear deformation, the p-Ritz method incorporating Reddy’s third-order shear deformation theory has been developed for the vibration analysis of cantilevered, thick, laminated, trapezoidal plates. In the p-Ritz method, a set of uniquely defined polynomial functions, consisting of the product of a two-dimensional function and a basic function, are used as the admissible trial displacement and rotation functions in the Ritz minimization procedure. The energy integral is formulated based on Reddy’s third-order shear deformation theory. From the p-Ritz method, the governing eigenvalue equation is derived which is used to compute the vibration frequency parameters and mode shapes of the laminated plate. Convergence and comparison studies have been presented to demonstrate and verify the accuracy of the results.     

Analysis of the free vibration of rectangular plates with central cut-outs using the discrete Ritz method

We present an analysis of the free vibration of plates with internal discontinuities due to central cut-outs. A numerical formulation for a basic L-shaped element which is divided into appropriate sub-domains that are dependent upon the location of the cut-out is used as the basic building element. Trial functions formed to satisfy certain boundary conditions are employed to define the transverse deflection of each sub-domain. Mathematical treatments in terms of the continuities in displacement, slope, moment, and higher derivatives between the adjacent sub-domains are enforced at the interconnecting edges. The energy functional results, from the proper assembly of the coupled strain and kinetic energy contributions of each sub-domain, are minimized via the Ritz procedure to extract the vibration frequencies and mode shapes of the plates. The procedures are demonstrated by considering plates with central cut-outs that are subjected to two types of boundary conditions.     

Free vibration analysis of moderately thick antisymmetric cross-ply laminated rectangular plates with elastic edge constraints

This study presents a simple formulation for studying the free vibration of shear-deformable antisymmetric cross-ply laminated rectangular plates having translational as well as rotational edge constraints. The aim is to fill the void in the available literature with respect to the free vibration results of antisymmetric cross-ply laminated rectangular plates. The spatial discretization of the resulting mathematical model in five field variables is carried out using the two-dimensional Differential Quadrature Method (DQM). Several combinations of translational and rotational elastic edge constraints are considered. Convergence study with respect to the number of nodes has been carried out and the results are compared with those from past investigations available only for simpler problems. Effects of stiffness parameters, geometrical features, moduli ratio and lamination schemes on the natural frequencies are studied.     

Thermal buckling and elastic vibration of third-order shear deformable functionally graded beams

An improved third order shear deformation theory is employed to investigate thermal buckling and vibration of the functionally graded beams. A power law distribution is used to describe the variation of volume fraction of material compositions. The functionally graded material properties are assumed to vary smoothly and continuously across the thickness of the beams. The Ritz method is adopted to solve the eigenvalue problems that are associated with thermal buckling and vibration in various types of immovable boundary conditions. The parametric study covered in this paper includes the effects of material composition, temperature-dependent material properties, and slenderness ratio.     

3-D vibration analysis of skew thick plates using Chebyshev–Ritz method

The free vibration characteristics of skew thick plates with arbitrary boundary conditions have been studied based on the three-dimensional, linear and small strain elasticity theory. The actual skew plate domain is mapped onto a basic cubic domain and the eigenvalue equation is then derived from the energy functional of the plate by using the Ritz method. A set of triplicate Chebyshev polynomial series multiplied by a boundary function chosen to satisfy the essential geometric boundary conditions of the plate is developed as the trial functions of the displacement components. The vibration modes are divided into antisymmetric and symmetric ones in the thickness direction and can be studied individually. The convergence and comparison studies show that rather accurate results can be obtained by using this approach. Parametric investigations on rhombic plates with fully clamped edges and completely free edges are performed in detail, with respect to the thickness-span ratio and skew angle. Some results known for the first time are reported, which may serve as the benchmark values for future numerical technique research.     

Vibration analysis of rectangular plates with edge V-notches

A method is presented for accurately determining the natural frequencies of plates having V-notches along their edges. It is based on the Ritz method and utilizes two sets of admissible functions simultaneously, which are (1) algebraic polynomials from a mathematically complete set of functions, and (2) corner functions duplicating the boundary conditions along the edges of the notch, and describing the stress singularities at its sharp vertex exactly. The method is demonstrated for free, square plates with a single V-notch. The effects of corner functions on the convergence of solutions are shown through comprehensive convergence studies. The corner functions accelerate convergence of results significantly. Accurate numerical results for free vibration frequencies and nodal patterns are tabulated for V-notched square plates having notch angle α=5° or 30° at different locations and with various notch depths. These are the first known frequency and nodal pattern results available in the published literature for rectangular plates with V-notches.     

Axisymmetric free vibration of thick annular plates

This paper presents a numerical analysis of the axisymmetric free vibration of moderately thick annular plates using the differential quadrature method (DQM). The plates are described by Mindlin’s first-order shear-deformation theory. The first five axisymmetric natural frequencies are presented for uniform annular plates, of various radii and thickness ratios, with nine possible combinations of free, clamped and simply supported boundary conditions at the inner and outer edges of the plates. The accuracy of the method is established by comparing the DQM results with some exact and finite element numerical solutions and, therefore, the present DQM results could serve as a benchmark for future reference. The convergence characteristics of the method for thick plate eigenvalue problems are investigated and the versatility and simplicity of the method is established.     

An exact approach for free vibration analysis of rectangular plates with line-concentrated mass and elastic line-support

An exact approach for free vibration of an isotropic rectangular plate carrying a line-concentrated mass and with a line-translational spring support or carrying a line-spring-mass system is presented in this paper. The mode shape function of vibration of such a plate is expressed in terms of the four fundamental solutions derived in this paper. The main advantage of the proposed method is that the resulted frequency equation for such a rectangular plate can be conveniently obtained from a second-order determinant. The proposed method is thus computationally efficient due to the significant decrease in the determinant order as compared with previously developed procedures which usually led to an eighth-order determinant for solving the title problem. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed method and to investigate the effects of the location and the magnitude of a line-concentrated mass and elastic line-support as well as the influence of the aspect ratio on the natural frequencies of a rectangular plate.     

Free vibration of laminated composite plates using two variable refined plate theory

Free vibration of laminated composite plates using two variable refined plate theory is presented in this paper. The theory accounts for parabolic distribution of the transverse shear strains through the plate thickness, and satisfies the zero traction boundary conditions on the surfaces of the plate without using shear correction factors. Equations of motion are derived from the Hamilton's principle. The Navier technique is employed to obtain the closed-form solutions of antisymmetric cross-ply and angle-ply laminates. Numerical results obtained using present theory are compared with three-dimensional elasticity solutions and those computed using the first-order and the other higher-order theories. It can be concluded that the proposed theory is not only accurate but also efficient in predicting the natural frequencies of laminated composite plates.     

Three-dimensional vibration, buckling and bending analyses of thick rectangular plates based on discrete singular convolution method

The main objective of this study is to give a numerical solution of three-dimensional analysis of thick rectangular plates. The analysis uses discrete singular convolution (DSC) method. Free vibration, bending and buckling of rectangular plates have been studied in this paper. Regularized Shannon's delta (RSD) kernel is selected as singular convolution to illustrate the present algorithm. In the proposed approach, the derivatives in both the governing equations and the boundary conditions are discretized by the method of DSC. The obtanied results are compared with those of other numerical methods. It is found that the convergence of the DSC approach is very good and the results agree well with those obtained by other researchers.     

Analysis of rectangular laminated composite plates via FSDT meshless method

A meshless approach based on the reproducing kernel particle method is developed for the flexural, free vibration and buckling analysis of laminated composite plates. In this approach, the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) is employed and the displacement shape functions are constructed using the reproducing kernel approximation satisfying the consistency conditions. The essential boundary conditions are enforced by a singular kernel method. Numerical examples involving various boundary conditions are solved to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method. Comparison of results with the exact and other known solutions in the literature suggests that the meshless approach yields an effective solution method for laminated composite plates.     

Free vibration of laminated cross-ply plates including shear deformation by spline method

Spline function approximation technique is used to analyze the free vibration of symmetric and anti-symmetric cross-ply plates under shear deformation theory. The equations of motion of the plate are derived using YNS theory. A system of coupled differential equations in terms of displacement and rotational functions are obtained by assuming the solution in a separable form. These functions are approximated using Bickley-type splines of suitable orders. A generalized eigenvalue problem is obtained on applying the process of point collocation with suitable boundary conditions. Parametric studies have been made to investigate the frequency response of the plates with reference to the material properties, number of layers, fiber orientation, side-to-thickness ratio, aspect ratio and relative layer thickness. Some results are compared with existing solution obtained by FEM.     

Free vibration of elastic helicoidal shells

An elastic helicoidal structure modelled as a plate twisted around its axis is studied in this paper. Accurate strain–displacement relationships for the shell are derived by the Green strain tensor in general shell theory and first-order shear deformation theory. An energy equilibrium equation of free vibration is introduced by the principle of virtual work. Applying the Rayleigh–Ritz method, an analytical eigenvalue equation is formulated and solved via an efficient computational approach for vibration characteristics of the helicoidal structure. A set of normalized orthogonal polynomials generated by the Gram–Schmidt procedure is presented to approximate the admissible functions. The first polynomial is taken as a kinematically compliant geometric equation of boundary conditions of the shell. The convergence and the accuracy of the present method, and the effects of geometric parameters and boundary conditions on vibration of the helicoidal structure are investigated.     

Accurate buckling loads of thin rectangular plates under parabolic edge compressions by the differential quadrature method

The buckling of thin rectangular plates with nonlinearly distributed loadings along two opposite plate edges is analyzed by using the differential quadrature (DQ) method. The problem is considerably more complicated since it requires that first the plane elasticity problem be solved to obtain the distribution of in-plane stresses, and then the buckling problem be solved. Thus, very few analytical solutions (the only one available in the literature is for rectangular plates with all edges simply supported) have been available in the literature thus far. Detailed formulations and solution procedures are given herein. Nine combinations of boundary conditions and various aspect ratios are considered. Comparisons are made with a few existing analytical and/or finite element data. It has been found that a fast convergent rate can be achieved by the DQ method with non-uniform grids and very accurate results are obtained for the first time. It has also been found that the DQ results, verified by the finite element method with NASTRAN, are not quite close to the newly reported analytical solution. A possible reason is given to explain the difference.     

Pseudospectral analysis of buckling and free vibration of rectangular Mindlin plates

A study of buckling and free vibration of rectangular Mindlin plates is presented. The analysis is based on the pseudospectral method, which uses basis functions that satisfy the boundary conditions. The equations of motion are collocated to yield a set of algebraic equations that are solved for the critical buckling load and for the natural frequencies in the presence of the in-plane loads. Numerical examples of rectangular plates with SS-C-SS-C boundary conditions are provided for various aspect ratios and thickness ratios, which show good agreement with those of the classical plate theory when the thickness ratio is very small. This paper was recommended for publication in revised form by Associate Editor Eung-Soo Shin Jinhee Lee received B.S. and M.S. degrees from Seoul National University and KAIST in 1982 and 1984, respectively. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1992 and joined the Dept. of Mechanical and Design Engineering of Hongik University in Choongnam, Korea. His research interests include inverse problems, pseudospectral method, vibration and dynamic systems.     

Free vibration analysis of composite beams with two non-overlapping delaminations

An analytical solution to the free vibration of composite beams with two non-overlapping delaminations is presented. The delaminated beam is modeled as seven interconnected Euler-Bernoulli beams using the delaminations as their boundaries. The continuity and the equilibrium conditions are satisfied between adjoining beams. The analysis includes the differential stretching between the delaminated layers and the bending-extension coupling. The results of the present model agree well with the analytical and experimental data reported in the literature. Parametric studies show that the sizes and locations of the delaminations have significant effect on the natural frequencies and mode shapes. These results provide useful information in the study of the free vibration of delaminated composite beams.     

Free vibration analysis of spherical caps by the pseudospectral method

The pseudospectral method is applied to the axisymmetric and asymmetric free vibration analysis of spherical caps. The displacements and the rotations are expressed by Chebyshev polynomials and Fourier series, and the collocated equations of motion are obtained in terms of the circumferential wave number. Numerical examples are provided for clamped, hinged and free boundary conditions. The results show good agreement with those of existing literature. This paper was recommended for publication in revised form by Associate Editor Eung-Soo Shin Jinhee Lee received B.S. and M.S. degrees from Seoul National University and KAIST in 1982 and 1984, respectively. He received his Ph.D. degree from University of Michigan in 1992 and joined Dept. of Mechano-Informatics of Hongik University in Choongnam, Korea. His research interests include inverse problems, pseudospectral method, vibration and dynamic systems.     

Closed-form vibration analysis of thick annular functionally graded plates with integrated piezoelectric layers

This paper employs an analytical method to analyze vibration of piezoelectric coupled thick annular functionally graded plates (FGPs) subjected to different combinations of soft simply supported, hard simply supported and clamped boundary conditions at the inner and outer edges of the annular plate on the basis of the Reddy's third-order shear deformation theory (TSDT). The properties of host plate are graded in the thickness direction according to a volume fraction power-law distribution. The distribution of electric potential along the thickness direction in the piezoelectric layer is assumed as a sinusoidal function so that the Maxwell static electricity equation is approximately satisfied. The differential equations of motion are solved analytically for various boundary conditions of the plate. In this study closed-form expressions for characteristic equations, displacement components of the plate and electric potential are derived for the first time in the literature. The present analysis is validated by comparing results with those in the literature and then natural frequencies of the piezoelectric coupled annular FG plate are presented in tabular and graphical forms for different thickness-radius ratios, inner-outer radius ratios, thickness of piezoelectric, material of piezoelectric, power index and boundary conditions.     

Nonlinear free and forced vibration of simply supported shear deformable laminated plates with piezoelectric actuators

This paper deals with the nonlinear vibration and dynamic response of simply supported shear deformable cross-ply laminated plates with piezoelectric actuators subjected to mechanical, electrical and thermal loads. The material properties are assumed to be independent of the temperature and electric field. Theoretical formulations are based on the higher order shear deformation plate theory and general von Kármán-type equation, which includes thermo-piezoelectric effects. Due to the bending and stretching coupling effects, a nonlinear static problem is first solved to determine the pre-vibration deformation caused by temperature field and control voltage. By adding an incremental dynamic state to the pre-vibration state, the equations of motion are solved by an improved perturbation technique to determine nonlinear frequencies and dynamic responses of hybrid laminated plates. The numerical illustrations concern nonlinear vibration characteristics of unsymmetric cross-ply laminated plates. The results presented show the effects of temperature rise, applied voltage and stacking sequence on the nonlinear vibration and dynamic response of the plates.