Natural frequencies of rectangular stepped plates using polynomial beam functions with subsectioning

Abstract

Natural frequencies of thin rectangular plates with single or multiple step variations in thickness and different edge boundary conditions are obtained by employing a novel hybrid method involving a set of beam characteristic polynomials and subsectioning using the Rayleigh-Ritz method. The formulations of the present method involve the division of the plate into strips, the number of strips used depending on the geometric discontinuities. The assumed admissible deflection function of each strip maintains continuity at the interconnecting line of each strip. The natural frequencies obtained by this method are compared with previously published ones and very good agreement is achieved. © 1995.