TRANSVERSE VIBRATION OF TRIANGULAR PLATE WITH ARBITRARY THICKNESS VARIATION AND VARIOUS BOUNDARY-CONDITIONS

The Rayleigh-Ritz method has been employed to obtain the numerical sol ution of the vibration problem of a triangular plate with arbitrary th ickness variation and various boundary conditions at the three edges. The thickness has been approximated by a polynomial in natural co-ordi nates which have been used everywhere as they greatly simplify the cal culations. Successive approximations have been worked out until the fi rst three frequencies and mode shapes converge to at least three signi ficant figures. The results are tabulated for selected cases and are c ompared with known results for uniform and linear thickness variation. Three-dimensional mode shapes have been drawn using the tools for com puter graphics. (C) 1998 Academic Press Limited.