Effects of Geometric Imperfections on Vibrations of Biaxially Compressed Rectangular Flat Plates

Abstract

This paper deals with the effects of geometric imperfections on the vibration frequencies of simply supported flat plates under in-plane uniaxial or biaxial compression. The analysis is based on a solution of the nonlinear von Ka´rma´n equations for finite deflections, incorporating the influence of an initial geometric imperfection. It is found that significant increase in the vibration frequencies may occur for imperfection amplitude of the order of a fraction of the plate thickness, even in the absence of in-plane forces.