Free vibration analysis of continuous rectangular plates

Vibration characteristics of rectangular plates continuous over full range line supports or partial line supports have been studied by using a discrete method. Concentrated loads with Heaviside unit functions and Dirac delta functions are used to simulate the line supports. The fundamental differential equations are established for the bending problem of the continuous plate. By transforming these differential equations into integral equations and using the trapezoidal rule of the approximate numerical integration, the solution of these equations is obtained. Green function which is the solution of deflection of the bending problem of plate is used to obtain the characteristic equation of the free vibration. The effects of the line support, the variable thickness and aspect ratio on the frequencies and mode shapes are considered. By comparing the numerical results obtained by the present method with those previously published, the efficiency and accuracy of the present method are investigated. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.