Free Transverse Vibration of Orthotropic Thin Trapezoidal Plate of Parabolically Varying Thickness Subjected to Linear Temperature Distribution

The present paper deals with the free transverse vibration of orthotropic thin trapezoidal plate of parabolically varying thickness in x-direction subjected to linear temperature distribution in x-direction through a numerical method. The deflection function is defined by the product of the equations of the prescribed continuous piecewise boundary shape. Rayleigh-Ritz method is used to evaluate the fundamental frequencies. The equations of motion, governing the free transverse vibrations of orthotropic thin trapezoidal plates, are derived with boundary condition CSCS. Frequency corresponding to the first two modes of vibration is calculated for the orthotropic thin trapezoidal plate having CSCS edges for different values of thermal gradient, taper constant, and aspect ratio. The proposed method is applied to solve orthotropic thin trapezoidal plate of variable thickness with C-S-C-S boundary conditions. Results are shown by figures for different values of thermal gradient, taper constant, and aspect ratio for the first two modes of vibrations. 1. Introduction Plate theory has been applied to reduce vibration and noise in structures since the end of the 19th century where it began with the work of German physicist Chladni, who discovered various modes of free vibrations experimentally. Since then, it has developed into an escalating and expansive field with a wide variety of theoretical and empirical techniques, dealing with increasingly complicated problems. In marine and aerospace engineering fields, where lightweight structural elements with orthotropic materials are of primary importance, orthotropic trapezoidal plate has extensive application. They are essentially thin plate structures which provide enhanced stiffness and stability characteristics. They also have widespread application in many other branches of modern civil, mechanical, and structural engineering and, in these applications, they are regularly subjected to static and time varying loads. Hence, analysis of orthotropic trapezoidal plate under different conditions has always been an area of immense interest to researchers. Research work on the dynamic characteristics of orthotropic trapezoidal plate has a long history as different researchers have employed different methodologies to perform dynamic analysis of such structures. Plates of variable thickness are used in nuclear reactor structures, naval structures, and aeronautical fields, electromechanical transducers for the electronic telephones, and mirrors and lenses in optical system. The practical importance of these plates has made