Free-Vibration Analysis of Rectangular Plates With Clamped-Simply Supported Edge Conditions by the Method of Superposition

In this paper attention is focused on the free-vibration analysis of rectangular plates with combinations of clamped and simply supported edge conditions. Plates with at least two opposite edges simply supported are not considered as they have been analyzed in a separate paper. It is well known that the family of problems considered here have presented researchers with a formidable challenge over the years. This is because they are not directly amenable to Le´vy-type solutions. It has been pointed out in the literature that most of the existing solutions are approximate in that they either do not satisfy exactly the governing differential equation or the boundary conditions, or both. In a new approach taken by the author the method of superposition is exploited for handling these dynamic problems. It is found that solutions of any degree of exactitude are easily obtained. The governing differential equation is completely satisfied and the boundary conditions are satisfied to any degree of exactitude by merely increasing the number of terms in the series. Convergence is shown to be remarkably rapid and tabulated results are provided for a large range of parameters. The immediate applicability of the method to problems involving elastic restraint or inertia forces along the plate edges has been discussed in an earlier publication.