New Analytical Free Vibration Solutions of Thin Plates Using the Fourier Series Method

This article aims at analytically solving the free vibration problem of rectangular thin plates with one corner free and its opposite two adjacent edges rotationally-restrained, which is difficult to handle by conventional semi-inverse approaches such as the Levy solution and Naiver solution, etc. Based on the classical Fourier series theory, this work presents a first endeavor to treat the two-dimensional half-sinusoidal Fourier series, which is quite similar to the Navier’s form solution, as the solution form of plate deflection. By utilizing the orthogonality of the present trial function and the Stoke’s transformation technique, the present solution procedure converts the complicated plate problem into solving sets of linear algebra equations, which heavily decreases the difficulties. Therefore, the present approach enables one to solve the title problem in a unified, simple and straightforward way, which is very easily implemented by researchers. Another advantage of the present method over other analytical approaches is that it has general applicability to various boundary conditions through utilizing different types of Fourier series and it can be extended for further dynamic/static analysis of plates under different shear deformation theories. Moreover, without any extra derivation processes, new, precise analytical free vibration solutions for plates under three non-Levy-type boundary conditions are also obtained by choosing different rotating fixed coefficients. Consequently, we present more than 400 comprehensive free vibration results for plates with classical/non-classical boundaries, all the present results are confirmed by FEM/analytical solutions and can be used as benchmark data for further research.