TRANSVERSE VIBRATION OF A CIRCULAR PLATE WITH ARBITRARY THICKNESS VARIATION

Rayleigh-Ritz method has been employed to obtain approximations to fre quencies and mode shapes of circular plates with variable thickness. T he boundary is either clamped, simply supported or completely free. Th e main distinguishing feature of the present investigations is that th e thickness approximation is done by measuring thickness at a suitable set of sample points and then using interpolation to get the approxim ating polynomial. Thus, unlike other methods already available in lite rature where either linear or quadratic variation of thickness has bee n examined, here one can have a polynomial of arbitrary degree dependi ng upon the number and locations of the sample points. The results hav e been tabulated in a large number of cases and three-dimensional mode shapes have been plotted for some selected cases. Comparison has been made with available results. A short tables are also given to depict the rate of convergence with the order of approximation. (C) 1998 Else vier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.