The free vibrations of rectangular composite plates with pointsupports using static beam functions

A computationally efficient and highly accurate numerical method is proposed to analyze the Free vibrations of symmetrically laminated rectangular composite plates with point-supports. A new set of admissible functions, which are composed of static beam functions, is developed. Being different from existing admissible functions, this set of admissible functions satisfies not only the geometric boundary conditions but also the point-support conditions and such admissible functions are obtained for the first time. Therefore, the governing eigenfrequency equation is derived directly by using the Rayleigh-Ritz approach. Several lest problems are solved to demonstrate the accuracy and flexibility of the proposed method. The present results, where possible, are verified with those values available from literature. The effects of the location and number of point-supports, the material property, number of layers and fibre orientation on the vibration behavior of the plates are studied. Some data known for the first time are given and can serve as the benchmark for future research on the aforementioned problem. © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.