Applied Acoustics 28 (1989) 49-60

Vibration Analysis of Plates with Cutouts by the Modified

Rayleigh-Ritz Method

K. Y. L a m , K. C. H u n g & S. T. C h o w

Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering,

National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 051 !

(Received 19 December 1988; accepted 23 February 1989)

A BS TRA C T

An efficient and accurate numerical method in the study of the vibration of

rectangular plates with cutouts and non-homogeneity is presented. By
dividing the problem domain into appropriate rectangular segments, the
deflection function for the originally complex domain can easily befound. The
method is simple and versatile by virtue of the use of a newly developed
characteristic polynomial function in the Rayleigh-Ritz procedures.
Numerical results obtainedfor isotropic and orthotropic plates are compared
with the open literature and the agreement is found to be very good.

INTRODUCTION

The Rayleigh-Ritz method is widely used in the study of the vibration of

rectangular plates. The stability and accuracy of the method is dependent
upon the deflection functions. The functions assumed for a continuous plate
domain are usually the characteristic beam functions t'2 or the degenerate
beam functions? Recently, Bhat 4'5 proposed the use of the orthogonally
generated polynomial functions in the study of the vibration of rectangular
plates. Modifications to the sets of orthogonal polynomial functions were
presented by Dickinson & Blasio 6 in the vibration and buckling analysis of
isotropic and orthotropic plates. Geannakakes 7 worked out a set of
normalized characteristic orthogonal polynomials which can be used to
analyse plates of various geometries defined by natural co-ordinates.
However, no detailed results were published in his paper.
49
Applied Acoustics 0003-682X/89/$03.50 O 1989 Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd, England.
Printed in Great Britain
50 K. Y. Lam, K. C. Hung, S. T. Chow

For a rectangular plate with cutouts, which is commonly encountered in

marine and aerospace structures, the normal Rayleigh-Ritz method will
require a beam function that is continuous over the plate domain while
satisfying the inner and external boundary requirements. No such function
has been reported in the open literature, and the analysis of such problem
using the Rayleigh-Ritz scheme will require some modifications to the
numerical procedures. This paper describes an extension of the
Rayleigh-Ritz method to vibration problems of a plate with cutouts and
plates with internal non-homogeneity. By dividing the plate domain into
smaller rectangular segments, appropriate deflection functions for each
segment can easily be found. Continuity in the transverse displacement is
enforced at evenly spaced discrete points along the interconnecting lines,
and the coupled deflection functions of each segment are substituted into the
energy functional to arrive at the eigenvalue equation.
Flexural vibrations of isotropic and orthotropic plates with centrally
located cutouts are analysed and the results verified by comparison with the
reported numerical, analytical and experimental results, whenever possible.
Isotropic rectangular plates with rectangular inhomogeneity have also been
considered.

METHOD OF ANALYSIS

To demonstrate the numerical procedures, a rectangular plate with a

centrally located rectangular cutout is considered. The geometry and
dimensions of the plate are shown in Fig. 1. Taking the advantage of
geometrical symmetry, vibration modes symmetric and antisymmetric
about the axes can be evaluated by considering only the lower quadrant of

b/2

2 i
i
= X
Q

Fig. 1. Geometryand dimensionsof plate with centrally located rectangularcutout.

 Vibration of plates with cutouts 51

the plate domain. The lower quadrant is further divided into smaller
rectangular segments.
Depending on the mode of vibration considered, the edges along the axes
of symmetry, x = a/2 and y = b/2, will be subjected to different restraints.
Solutions for the symmetric modes will be obtained from the condition that
the slope and the shear force are zero and, for the antisymmetric modes, that
the displacement and moment are zero.
The deflection function assumed for each segment is in the following
form:
(e) W(x,y ) = 22
m n
m~) ¢m(X)(e)¢n( y)(e) (1)

where 4),. and ~h. are polynomial functions satisfying at least the geometric
boundary conditions of the segment. The superscript (e) represents the
segment number.
The polynomial functions ~b,.(x) (and ~h.(y)) assumed in the deflection are
the characteristic orthogonal polynomial functions generated using the
Gram-Schmidt process. Starting with an initial polynomial ~bl(x) satisfying
the geometric and natural boundary conditions of the equivalent beam
function, the subsequent terms are generated using the recursive
relationship,
~b2(x) = [ f ( x ) - B1]q~l(x) (2)
~bk(x)= [f(x) -- Bk- a]~bk- l(x) - Ck- 2q~k-2(x), K> 2
where
i 2
Bk-x = [~'0f(x)¢k - ,(x)dx]/[~'ox ~b~_x(x)dx]
and
Ck - 2 = [I~ f ( x ) dpk_ x(x)dp k_ 2(x) dx]/[j'~ 4~_ ,(x) dx]
The starting polynomial ~bl(x) and the generating function f ( x ) correspond-
ing to each boundary condition are given in Table 1.
The deflection function of the adjacent segments will have one of the two
polynomials, 45.(x) or 0.(y), in common. By enforcing continuity of
transverse deflection at evenly spaced discrete points along the interconnect-
ing boundaries, the undetermined coefficients I')Am., e = 1,2,3, of the
deflection function for each segment will be coupled together. Taking
segments 1 and 2 as an illustration, the following condition is imposed:
~l)W(x,y) = (2)W(x,y) at evenly spaced discrete points P,,
where (3)
t = 1,2 ..... N
52 K. Y. Lam, K. C. Hung, S. T. Chow

TABLE 1
Starting Polynomial and the Corresponding Generating
Function

Boundary Startingpolynomial, Generating.function,

conditions d~l(x) fix)
SS-SS x - 2x 3 "4-x a x2
SS-F x x
C-SS 3x 2 - 5x 3 + 2x 4 x
C-F x2 x
C-C x 2 - 2x 3 + X 4 X

SS-Sym 8x - 4x 3 + X 4 --2x + x 2
C-Sym ~ 4x 2 - 4x 3 + x 4 - 2x + x 2

a Sym denotes the boundary condition at the line of symmetry

during the symmetric mode of vibration.

U p o n s u b s t i t u t i o n o f t h e c o - o r d i n a t e v a l u e s o f P , i n t o e q n (3), t h e f o l l o w i n g
m a t r i x e x p r e s s i o n is f o r m u l a t e d :

[CONT(1)]~)A,,. = [CONT(2)]~2)A,., (4)

Mx
M2
where [CONT(e)] = A)/,

_MN
and
M, = {cpl(Xt)lp1(Yt) dpl(Xt)~z(Yt) ... dpu(Xt)lpN(yt)}
P o s t - m u l t i p l y i n g the inverse of [ C O N T ( 2 ) ] o n e q n (4) g i v e s

[ C O N T ( 2 ) ] - 1[ C O N T ( 1 ) ] ~ t ) A , . , = ~2)Amn
or

~2)A,,. = L I N K ~ I ) A m . (5)
2~1

where
[ L I N K ] (~) = [ C O N T ( 2 ) ] - a [ C O N T ( 1 ) ]
2~1

T h e deflection f u n c t i o n for s e g m e n t 2 c a n n o w be expressed in the f o l l o w i n g

form:

(2)W~x'r) = ~ ~ [LINK]
l (6)
WI n
 Vibration of plates with cutouts 53

Likewise. the deflection functions of other segments can also be expressed in

terms of coefficients tl)A,..:

~)Wo,,y) - ~ ~ [LINK]
~-.1 {(X)A,.} (7)
m /t

where
[LINK]= [LINK] x.-. [LINK] x...[LINK]
e'-* 1 e-~e - 1 e-j'-*e-j- 1 2-'* 1
The coupled deflection function for each segment is substituted into the
strain and kinetic energy expression:

U=~f[DllW~x2-4-O22W;2 + 2 D 1 2 W x x W , r-4-4966W~x2]dxdy (8)

T= phi2
2 ff W 2 dx dy (9)

where the integrations are to be carried out over the domain of the segment
considered, and
Elh 3 E2 ha
D22
D11 - 12(1 -v12v21 )' 12(1 -v12v21)
D12 = v21D22 , D66 = Gha/12
The total strain and kinetic energies of the entire domain are assumed to be
the sum of the contributions from each segment. Minimizing the resulting
functional (UTotaI - TTotal) with respect to the undetermined coefficients of
segment 1, tl)A,.., leads to the governing eigenvalue equation:

~[Kmnij-~2Mmnij](1)Amn=O (10)
//I ?1

where ~ = (phoFa4/Dl 1)1/2 and K,..ij, M,..~¢ are the total stiffness and mass
matrices of the plate considered.
Solving eqn (10) yields the natural frequency of the plate at the specific
mode of vibration considered. In the above expression,
Kmnij = C(1),.n~j+ [ L I N K ] w C(2)mnij [ L I N K ] + . . .
2-.1 2-'1
+ [ L I N K ] T C(e)m.,j[ L I N K ] + " " [ L I N K ] T C(n),.. o [ L I N K ] (11)
e~l e~l n~l ~-*1

Mranij __ F.(Hto,o)k-lH(o,o)
- _,_,,.~ _ ,_,.~ + [LINK] T E(2),,,
(0,0) F ( 2 ) .(0,0)
j [LINK] ....
2--.I
+ [ L I N K ] "rE(e),.~F(e).~[ L I N K ] + ' - " + [ L I N K ] TE(n)m~F(n).j[ L I N K ]
e'-*l e-*l n-*l n--*l
(12)
54 K. Y. Lain, K. C. Hung, S. T. Chow

where e is the segment number and ~z is the total number of segments.

C(e)mnij = E(e),.i
(2,2) ~-~(0,0)
F(ej.j + /L.,22x.,~Zjm
), gTt . , ~ ( 0 , 0 )
i L-If.A(2,2 )
a ~¢lnj

+ 2D12{E(e),,,(0,2)
,
i F(e),j(2,0) + "-,~¢J,,i
L-y~'I( 2, O) K:'t~'L(O, 2 ))
,~J,j s
71_ r (1,1)
4D66E(e),. i P~e).j(1,1) (13)
and
E ( e ) ~ ~1 =
f? (d'~bm/dx')(d~4~Jdx ~)dx

F(e)~}'~ = ( d ' O d d J X d ~ J / j / d y ~) d y

D'12 = D12/D11, D'22 = D22/D11, D'66 = D 6 6 / D l l

NUMERICAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The numerical method developed is used to study the free vibration of

rectangular plates with cutouts and internal non-homogeneities. For a
simply supported square plate with a free square opening under the
fundamental mode of vibration, the starting polynomials q~l(x) and ~kI(Y) for
each segment, for an SS-SS-SS-SS square plate, are given in Table 2.
TABLE 2
Polynomial Functions for an SS-SS-SS-SS Square Plate

Segment 4at(x) ,fix) $l(Y) .tI y)

no.

1 8x -- 4x 3 + x 4 - - 2.~ -4- x 2 y |'

E 8 x - - 4 x 3 --~ x 4 - 2 x -{- x 2 8].' - 41 '3 -;v 3 ,4 - - 2 y + ) ,2
3 x x 83' - 43 '3 + ) ,4 - 23' + y 2

Convergence study
The convergence of the fundamental mode for a square plate with a clamped
and simply supported opening is shown in Table 3. Satisfactory convergence
is achieved with 4 x 4 terms in the deflection function. The computed results
are in good agreement with those obtained by Nagaya. 8

Free vibration of rectangular plates with cutouts

To check the validity of the present method, the experimental results

obtained by Aksu et aL 9 for an isotropic rectangular plate with single or
double cutouts are used for comparison. The geometries and dimensions of
 Vibration of plates with cutouts 55

TABLE 3
Convergence of Fundamental Frequency Parameter
Q(= [phtn2a4/D] 1/2) with Number of Terms in DeflectionFunction
(Doubly Connected Isotropic Square Plate, Inner Opening= 0.2a)

Boundary Number of terms

condition
2x 2 3x 3 4x 4 5x 5 Nagaya 8

S ~ 55"95 57.27 60"62 60'87 60-93

C ~ 112"83 116-29 119"38 119"73 117"98

the plates studied, and the number of segments considered in the analysis,
are shown in Fig. 2. The numerical results obtained are compared in Tables 4
and 5. The agreement is good in the case of single and double cutouts. It is
noted that the present method yields a slightly higher frequency as
compared to the experimental results. This may be due to the difficulty in
imposing a perfectly clamped boundary condition in the experiment.
The free vibration of orthotropic square plates with a center cutout has

I_ a:gin --I
I-- -7

o=13in
t
b=7in

Fig. 2.
I I a/5 I ~= a/5 =I
Geometry and dimensions of plates with rectangular cutouts.
 56 K. }'. Lam, K. C. Hung, S. T. Chow

TABLE 4
Frequency Parameters of a C-SS-C-SS lsotropic Rectangular Plate with a
Single Cutout (v = 0"3)

Mode f2 Frequency (Hz)

shape
Aksu et al. Present Aksu 9 Present E.vperiment 9

1 33"22 34.04 179.68 184'12 183-0

2 53'01 54.57 286"73 295"16 292'0
3 61.91 65'05 334.89 351.84 338'0
4 91.87 95'38 496"95 515"89 514.0

TABLE 5
Frequency Parameters of a C-SS-C-SS Isotropic Rectangular Plate with
Double Cutouts (v = 0-3)

Mode f~ Frequency (Hz)

shape
Aksu et al. Present Aksu 9 Present Experiment 9

1 47-86 49"26 124-08 127"71 127

2 93-62 97"97 242"71 253-99 246
3 122'04 130-82 316"41 339"17 324
4 151"95 160'35 393"92 415"70 398

B0

70-

O~
tad
t---
,.- 50

oo
20~°
II0 , , , , =I
0
0.0 01 0.2 0.3 0./., 0.5 0.5 0.7 0£~
C/A
Fig. 3. Fundamental frequency parameter for a simply supported orthotropic square plate
©, Rajamani; t° , present method.
 Vibration o f plates with cutouts 57

270
250
230
7t0
190 o o

150,
130
11o

390.o Ot o.2 o.3 O.t, 0.5 0.6 0.7 o.8

C/A
Fig. 4. Fundamental frequency parameter for a fully clamped orthotropic square plate. ©,
Rajamani; 11 , present method.

also been studied. The material properties are given in Table 6. The effect of
cutout size and modulus ratio upon the fundamental frequency are depicted
in Figs 3 and 4. The curves obtained agree closely with the reported results of
Rajamani & Prabhakaran ~°'11 for both simply supported and clamped
boundary conditions.

Free vibration of plate with abrupt change in thickness

The configuration of a square plate with an abrupt change in thickness is

shown in Fig. 5. The lower quadrant of the plate is divided into four
segments as shown. DEand D, are the flexural rigidities ofthe outer and inner
domains respectively.
The results for simply supported and clamped plates with various inner
and outer side ratios, c/a, are presented in Tables 7 and 8. The results are in

TABLE 6
Material Properties of Typical Unidirectional
Composites

Material E1/E2 G I 2/E2 vl2

Balanced bidirectional 1 0.200 0-10

Glass-epoxy 3 0"500 0-25
Boron-epoxy 10 0"333 0'30
Graphite-epoxy 40 0.500 0"25
 TABLE 7
F u n d a m e n t a l Frequency Parameter for a Simply Supported
Square Plate with D I = 4D, DII = D and v = 0.0;
f2 = [ph~o2a4/D] 1/2

Finite difference ~2 Negative Present

stiffness 13 method
n=4 n=8 n=12

0"0 -- 31'14 -- 31"34 31"34

0-25 -- 30"46 -- 30"90 31-04
0"50 23-39 29-58 29"80 30"22 30-18
0'75 -- 26-74 -- 27'61 27"65
1.00 18'75 19"52 19-63 19'74 19"74

TABLE 8
F u n d a m e n t a l F r e q u e n c y P a r a m e t e r for a C l a m p e d Square Plate
with D r = 4 D , D n = D, v = 0"0; D = [phto2a4/D] 1/2

Finite difference i z Negative Present

stiffness 13 method
n=4 n=8 n=12

0"0 -- -- -- 57.07 57"15

0-25 . . . . 57-28 57"46
0'50 46-20 54-01 56-14 58-50 58"40
0-75 -- -- -- 52.11 51"22
1"00 28"78 33"63 34"85 35"98 35"99

TABLE 9
Material Properties for O r t h o t r o p i c Plates with Rectan-
gular H o m o g e n e i t y

Subdomain D11 D22 Dl 2 D66 P

DI 1-432 1' 131 1"084 0"383 2"95

Dn 1'00 0"502 0"776 0-279 1.00

TABLE 10
F u n d a m e n t a l F r e q u e n c y P a r a m e t e r for Square Plate with
Square N o n - h o m o g e n e i t y ; D = p2ho921a4/D~

Boundary Side ratio, Laura TM Present

condition c/a method

SS-SS-SS-SS 0"2 18"19 18"23

0"3 16-74 16-82
0"4 15'57 15"71

C-C-C-C 0"2 29.26 29'30

0"3 26.51 26"60
0-4 24.55 24"66
 Vibration of plates with cutouts 59

11

I:i
I t

Fig. 5. Simply supported square plate with abrupt change in thickness.

good agreement with those obtained by finite difference formulation 12 and

by the negative stiffness method) 3

Free vibration of orthotropic plates with rectangular non-homogeneity

The problem of transverse vibration of orthotropic, non-homogeneous

rectangular plates is first solved by Laura et al. 14 The geometry of the plates
is depicted in Fig. 6. Following the conventions of Laura, D I and D n are
subdomains of different orthotropic characteristics. The problem domain is
again divided into four segments, in order to apply the present method.
Simply supported and clamped square plate with the material properties
listed in Table 9 are investigated.
The fundamental frequency parameter computed is presented in Table 10,
and is found to agree well with that calculated by Laura.

I1

C
I- ,I

ii!i
71 2 Ilr

Fig. 6. Square plate with centrally located square inhomogeneity.

60 K.Y. Lam, K. C. Hung, S. T. Chow

CONCLUSION

A modification of the Rayleigh-Ritz method to study the free vibration of

rectangular plates with a cutout or other form o f inhomogeneity has been
presented herein. The method is simple and versatile and, with the use of the
orthogonal polynomial function generated via the G r a m - S c h m i d t process,
a great variety o f plates problems can be readily analysed. Numerical
calculations are performed for isotropic and orthotropic plates, and
comparison with the results in the existing literature shows good agreement.

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