Free vibration analysis of a rectangular plate carrying multiple various concentrated elements

Abstract

The dynamic characteristic of a uniform rectangular plate with four boundary conditions and carrying three kinds of multiple concentrated element (rigidly attached point masses, linear springs and elastically mounted point masses) was investigated. Firstly, the closed-form solutions for the natural frequencies and the corresponding normal mode shapes of a rectangular ‘bare’ (or ‘unconstrained’) plate (without any attachments) with the specified boundary conditions were determined analytically. Next, by using these natural frequencies and normal mode shapes incorporated with the expansion theory, the equation of motion of the ‘constrained’ plate (carrying the three kinds of multiple concentrated element) were derived. Finally, numerical methods were used to solve this equation of motion to give the natural frequencies and mode shapes of the ‘constrained’ plate. To confirm the reliability of previous free vibration analysis results, a finite element analysis was also conducted. It was found that the results obtained from the above-mentioned two approaches were in good agreement. Compared with the conventional finite element method (FEM), the approach employed in this paper has the advantages of saving computing time and achieving better accuracy, as can be seen from the existing literature.