Use of Higher Order Plate Theory in dynamic analysis of SSFS and CSFS thick rectangular plates in orthogonal polynomials

Abstract

This study applied polynomial expressions as displacement and shear deformation functions in the free-vibration study of thick and moderately thick isotropic rectangular plates. Rectangular plates with two different edge conditions investigated in this work are: one with simple supports at three of its edges and with no support at the other edge denoted with the acronym (SSFS) and a rectangular plate with simple supports at opposite edges while the other opposite edges has a fixed support at one edge and no support at the other edge, this is denoted with the acronym (CSFS). The total potential energy of the plate was derived using the general theory of elasticity. The general governing equation of the plate was derived by minimizing the total potential energy equation of the plate. Edge conditions of the SSFS and CSFS plates were met and substituted into the general governing equation to obtain a linear expression which was solved to generate fundamental natural frequency function for the plates with various span-depth proportion (m/t) and planar dimensions proportion (n/m). The results obtained from this research were found to agree favourably with the results of similar problems in the literature upon comparison.