Vibration and stability of angle-ply laminated composite plates subjected to in-plane stresses

Natural frequencies and buckling stresses of angle-ply laminated composite plates are analyzed by taking into account the effects of shear deformation, thickness change and rotatory inertia. By using the method of power series expansion of displacement components, a set of fundamental dynamic equations of a two-dimensional higher-order theory for thick rectangular laminates subjected to in-plane stresses is derived through Hamilton's principle. Several sets of truncated approximate theories are applied to solve the eigenvalue problems of a simply supported thick laminated plate. In order to assure the accuracy of the present theory, convergence properties of the fundamental natural frequency are examined in detail. Numerical results are compared with those of the published existing theories. The modal displacement and stress distributions in the thickness direction are obtained and plotted in figures. The present global higher-order approximate theories can predict the natural frequencies, buckling stresses and modal stresses of thick multilayered angle-ply composite laminates accurately within small number of unknowns which is not dependent on the number of layers.     

Vibrations of an initially stressed transversely isotropic circular thick plate

Equations of motion for a transversely isotropic circular thick plate in a general state of nonuniform initial stress where the effects of transverse shear and rotary inertia are included are derived. The natural frequencies of axisymmetric clamped plates and simply supported plates subjected to initial stresses are investigated. The initial stress is taken to be a combination of a pure bending stress plus an extensional stress in the plane of the plate. These equations are solved by the Galerkin method. The effects of various parameters on the natural frequencies are studied.     

A novel approach for in-plane/out-of-plane frequency analysis of functionally graded circular/annular plates

An exact closed-form frequency equation is presented for free vibration analysis of circular and annular moderately thick FG plates based on the Mindlin's first-order shear deformation plate theory. The edges of plate may be restrained by different combinations of free, soft simply supported, hard simply supported or clamped boundary conditions. The material properties change continuously through the thickness of the plate, which can vary according to a power-law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituents, whereas Poisson's ratio is set to be constant. The equilibrium equations which govern the dynamic stability of plate and its natural boundary conditions are derived by the Hamilton's principle. Several comparison studies with analytical and numerical techniques reported in literature and the finite element analysis are carried out to establish the high accuracy and superiority of the presented method. Also, these comparisons prove the numerical accuracy of solutions to calculate the in-plane and out-of-plane modes. The influences of the material property, graded index, thickness to outer radius ratios and boundary conditions on the in-plane and out-of-plane frequency parameters are also studied for different functionally graded circular and annular plates.     

Bending and extension of a multilayered plate with body forces and thermal loading

A multilayered plate composed of thin layers of isotropic materials is analyzed. The problem for the multilayered plate with body forces is formulated by using the lamination theory in which displacement fields are expressed in terms of in-plane displacements on a main plane and transverse displacement. Placing the main plane at an appropriate distance from the lower surface of the plate, a set of equilibrium equations is shown to be written in uncoupled forms, which are identical to those for an uncoupled plate such as a single layer plate. It is proved that the complete solutions of the multilayered plates subject to the specified in-plane resultant tractions or in-plane displacements on its whole boundary can be obtained from the sum of solutions for uncoupled plates. Closed form solutions are obtained for a circular laminate clamped or simply supported on its the boundary as well as for a rotating disk with a constant angular velocity. The calculations of thermoelastic stresses and displacements in multilayered plates are also discussed. Closed form solutions are obtained for a circular laminate with distributed temperature varying in the radial direction and through the thickness.     

A three-dimensional finite element method for plate bending

A three-dimensional finite element method is proposed for plate bending. The displacement function is assumed to have a particular form with respect to the thickness variable.The assumed displacement function is substituted into the three-dimensional potential energy functional and a two-dimensional variational problem emerges.The two-dimensional problem is treated by the finite element method and it is seen that for conforming solutions the only requirement is continuity of the basis functions.The method includes transverse shear and thickness effects and may be used for both thin and moderately thick shells.To illustrate the method and to compare it with other results, the problems of a square plate under point and distributed loads and with simply supported and clamped boundary are treated numerically.     

Optimal design of stepped circular plates with allowance for the effect of transverse shear deformation

Presented herein is a canonical exact deflection expression for stepped (or piecewise-constant thickness) circular plates under rotationally symmetric transverse loads. The circular plates may be either simply supported or clamped at the edges. As the plates may be very thick or certain portions of the optimal design may become rather thick, the significant effect of transverse shear deformation on the deflections cannot be ignored. This effect was taken into consideration in accordance to the Mindlin plate theory. Based on the analytical deflection expression, necessary conditions are derived for the optimal values of segmental lengths and thicknesses that minimize the maximum deflection of stepped circular plates of a given volume. These optimality conditions are solved using the Newton method for the optimal segmental lengths and thicknesses. Local minima are observed for this nonlinear problem at hand and they may pose some difficulties in getting the solutions. The shear deformation effect increases the plate deflections, but interestingly it affects the thickness variation marginally.     

Nonlinear bending response of functionally graded plates subjected to transverse loads and in thermal environments

Nonlinear bending analysis is presented for a simply supported, functionally graded rectangular plate subjected to a transverse uniform or sinusoidal load and in thermal environments. Material properties are assumed to be temperature-dependent, and graded in the thickness direction according to a simple power-law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The governing equations of a functionally graded plate are based on Reddy's higher-order shear deformation plate theory that includes thermal effects. Two cases of the in-plane boundary conditions are considered. A mixed Galerkin-perturbation technique is employed to determine the load-deflection and load-bending moment curves. The numerical illustrations concern nonlinear bending response of functional graded rectangular plates with two constituent materials. The influences played by temperature rise, the character of in-plane boundary conditions, transverse shear deformation, plate aspect ratio and volume fraction distributions are studied.     

Elastic small deflection analysis of annular sector Mindlin plates

An analytical method is developed for the bending response of annular sector Mindlin plates with two radial edges simply supported, and exact solutions are presented in the form of Levy-type series. Several different boundary conditions on the two circular edges are considered, viz. simply supported-simply supported, clamped-clamped and free-free. Numerical results for the case of uniform loading are presented to indicate the effect of shear deformation on the deflections and stress resultants at various points in the plate. Twisting stress couple and transverse shear stress resultant distributions along and near the edges of the plate are illustrated graphically, and the principal differences between the results predicted by Mindlin's plate theory and classical thin plate theory are discussed in detail. Results obtained with the present exact analysis may serve as references for approximate solutions and, especially, as a ‘shear locking’ test for thick plate finite element analysis.     

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.     

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.     

Free vibration of isosceles triangular mindlin plates

The free flexural vibration of thick isosceles triangular plates based on the Mindlin shear deformation theory is investigated. The pb-2 Rayleigh-Ritz method, proposed earlier by the authors, is employed for solution. New sets of vibration frequency parameters for isosceles triangular Mindlin plates with various apex angles, thickness-to-width ratios and different combinations of free, simply supported and clamped edges are presented. These results are valuable to designers and may serve as the benchmark values for future numerical techniques and software packages in thick plate analyses. Since no results are available to date for such thick triangular plates, comparisons of results can only be made in the special case of small thickness-to-width ratios with existing thin plate results. In all cases, they are found to be in very close agreement. The influences of shear deformation and rotatory inertia on the frequency parameters are examined.     

Hygrothermal effects on the postbuckling of shear deformable laminated plates

The influence of hygrothermal effects on the postbuckling of shear deformable laminated plates subjected to a uniaxial compression is investigated using a micro-to-macro-mechanical analytical model. The material properties of the composite are affected by the variation of temperature and moisture, and are based on a micro-mechanical model of a laminate. The governing equations of a laminated plate are based on Reddy's higher-order shear deformation plate theory that includes hygrothermal effects. The initial geometric imperfection of the plate is taken into account. Two cases of the in-plane boundary conditions are considered. A perturbation technique is employed to determine buckling loads and postbuckling equilibrium paths. The numerical illustrations concern the postbuckling behavior of perfect and imperfect, antisymmetric angle-ply and symmetric cross-ply laminated plates under different sets of environmental conditions. The influences played by temperature rise, the degree of moisture concentration, the character of in-plane boundary conditions, transverse shear deformation, plate aspect ratio, total number of plies, fiber orientation, fiber volume fraction and initial geometric imperfections are studied.     

TRANSVERSE VIBRATION CHARACTERISTICS OF VISCOELASTIC RECTANGULAR PLATE WITH CRACK

Based on the two-dimensional viscoelastic differential constitutive relation and the thin plate theory, the differential equations of motion of the viscoelastic plate with an all-over part-through crack are established and the expression of additional rotation induced by the crack is derived. The complex eigenvalue equations of the viscoelastic plate with crack are derived by the differential quadrature method, and the 8method is used at the crack continuity conditions. Dimensionless complex frequencies of a crack viscoelastic plate with four edges simply supported, two opposite edges simply supported and other two edges clamped are calculated. The effects of the crack parameter, the aspect ratio and dimensionless delay time of the material on the transverse vibration of the viscoelastic plate are analyzed.     

Buckling of symmetrically laminated rectangular plates under parabolic edge compressions

Buckling analysis of symmetrically laminated rectangular plates with parabolic distributed in-plane compressive loadings along two opposite edges is performed using the Rayleigh-Ritz method. Classical laminated plate theory is adopted. Stress functions satisfying all stress boundary conditions are constructed based on the Chebyshev polynomials. Displacement functions for buckling analysis are constructed by Chebyshev polynomials multiplying with functions that satisfy either simply supported or clamped boundary condition along four edges. Methodology and procedures are worked out in detail. Buckling loads for symmetrically laminated plates with four combinations of boundary conditions are obtained. The proposed method is verified by comparing results to data obtained by the differential quadrature method (DQM) and the finite element method (FEM). Numerical example also shows that the double sine series displacement for simply supported symmetrically laminated plates having bending-twisting coupling may overestimate the stiffness, thus providing higher buckling loads.     

The free flexural vibrations of triangular, rhombic and parallelogram plates and some analogies

This article presents numerical data and solutions for the free flexural fundamental vibrations of simply supported isosceles triangular, rhombic and parallelogram plates using special adaptations of the point-matching method. Vibration data for clamped rhombic plates are also given. The numerical data are generally believed to be very accurate since they agree very well with the exact solutions for several special cases.

The data for the above simply supported polygonal problems can be shown to be analogous to (1) the buckling of simply supported polygonal plates subjected to hydrostatic in-plane loading, and (2) the free vibrations of polygonal membranes under constant tension.     

Postbuckling of shear deformable laminated plates under biaxial compression and lateral pressure and resting on elastic foundations

Postbuckling analysis is presented for a simply supported, shear deformable laminated plate subjected to biaxial compression combined with uniform lateral pressure and resting on an elastic foundation. The lateral pressure is first converted into an initial deflection and the initial geometrical imperfection of the plate is also taken into account. The formulations are based on the Reddy's higher-order shear deformation plate theory, and including the plate-foundation interaction. The analysis uses a perturbation technique to determine the buckling loads and the postbuckling equilibrium paths. Numerical examples are presented that relate to the performances of perfect and imperfect, antisymmetrically angle-ply and symmetrically cross-ply laminated plates under combined loading and resting on Pasternak-type or softening nonlinear elastic foundations from which results for Winkler elastic foundations are obtained as a limiting case. The effects played by foundation stiffness, transverse shear deformation, plate aspect ratio, total number of plies, fiber orientation, the biaxial load ratio and initial lateral pressure are studied.     

Thermal postbuckling behavior of shear deformable FGM plates with temperature-dependent properties

Thermal postbuckling analysis is presented for a simply supported, shear deformable functionally graded plate under thermal loading. Two cases of temperature field, i.e. in-plane non-uniform parabolic temperature distribution and heat conduction are considered. The material properties of functionally graded materials (FGMs) are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction according to a simple power-law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents, and the material properties of FGM layers are assumed to be temperature-dependent. The governing equations are based on a higher-order shear deformation plate theory that includes thermal effects. The initial geometric imperfection of the plate is taken into account. A two-step perturbation technique is employed to determine buckling temperature and postbuckling equilibrium paths. The numerical illustrations concern the thermal postbuckling behavior of perfect and imperfect, geometrically mid-plane symmetric FGM plates under different sets of loading conditions. The results reveal that the temperature dependency has a significant effect on the thermal postbuckling behavior of FGM plates. The results also confirm that for the case of heat conduction, the postbuckling path for geometrically perfect plates is no longer of the bifurcation type.     

Approximation formulae for natural frequencies of simply supported skew plates

By using the reduction method proposed previously by the author and the exact relation between natural frequencies of an isotropic simply supported skew plate and a skew membrane with the same boundary shape, a few approximation formulae for estimating the natural frequency of simply supported isotropic and orthotropic skew plates are derived from the natural frequency of skew membranes without solving the partial differential equation governing the free vibration of the orthotropic skew plate.     

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.     

Elastic large deflection analysis of isotropic rectangular Mindlin plates

Governing equations for the large deflection analysis of isotropic rectangular Mindlin plates are introduced and their solution using the DR algorithm is briefly outlined. Two computer programs, based respectively on interlacing and non-interlacing finite-differences, have been developed for the numerical solution of these equations. The programs have been verified by analysing a variety of thin and moderately thick plate problems for which alternative solutions are available. Sample results comparisons are presented in order to quantify the accuracy of the DR results. The non-interlacing finite-difference DR program is then used to compute new results for uniformly loaded square moderately thick plates with simply supported, clamped and combined simply supported and clamped edges.