On the free vibration analysis of thin rectangular plates

Abstract

The rectangular plate is one of the most commonly used structures in the industrialised world. It is also employed in aircraft body structures and components, hulls of ships, fixed submerged structures like oil-rig platforms, and fibre plates on which computer components are attached. The more knowledge is gained about the vibration frequencies of plates thus employed, the more action can be taken to eliminate or diminish the possibility of them vibrating in that region where they are used. The Rayleigh-Ritz method is the most popular energy method in vibration analysis , its accuracy depending to a large extent on how well the assumed deflection functions can best describe the deformed shape of the vibrating plate . And it is here Thai researchers have struck different paths : how to find the best shape functions to be used in the Rayleigh-Ritz method. On the other hand, some researchers have sought to develop techniques which do not rely on energy considerations like the Rayleigh-Ritz method does.