Thermal gradient effects on the vibration of prestressed rectangular plates

Summary The effect of a thermal gradient on the transverse vibration of a prestressed rectangular plate is investigated by the method of matched asymptotic expansions. This class of heated plate is characterised by changing its Young's modulus with temperature. Analytical results for the eigenvalues are presented for fully-clamped and fully-hinged rectangular plates when the bending rigidity is small compared to the in-plane loading. To leading order in (where ² denotes the normalized bending rigidity), the eigenvalues of an ideal membrane are obtained, independent of thermal effects.Thermal gradient effects occur in the first order correction of eigenvalues for a clamped plate while the eigenvalues of a hinged plate are affected by thermal gradient only to second order. In particular, Schneider's results are recovered when thermal gradient effects are absent.Nomenclature W' bending deflection - D(x) flexural rigidity - D ₀ reference flexural rigidity - x',y' rectangular co-ordinate - E modulus of elasticity - E ₁ reference modulus of elasticity - t' time - h' height of plate - a' length of plate - b' width of plate - T temperature - T ₀ reference temperature - slope of variation ofE withT - parameter - L characteristic length - N ₀ characteristic in-plane force - m mass per unit area - characteristic frequency - outer solution - inner solution - small parameter