Three-dimensional vibration analysis of rectangular plates based on differential quadrature method

This paper presents the formulation and numerical analysis of the three-dim ensional elasticity plate model using the differential quadrature (DQ) meth od. The governing equations in terms of displacement, stress-displacement r elations, and boundary conditions for the three-dimensional plate model are first presented. These equations are then normalized and discretized using the DQ procedure. Example problems on the free vibration of rectangular pl ates with generic boundary conditions are selected. Two types of mesh patte rn, the uniform mesh pattern and the cosine mesh pattern, were used and the ir convergence characteristics were studied. The cosine mesh was then chose n as the better mesh pattern pertaining to the problems solved. The solutio ns calculated using the cosine mesh pattern were then compared, where possi ble, with the exact or the numerical or the analytical solutions. It is fou nd that the differential quadrature method yields accurate results for the plate problems under the current investigation. (C) 1999 Academic Press.