Theory and experiments for large-amplitude vibrations of rectangular plates with geometric imperfections

Large-amplitude vibrations of rectangular plates subjected to harmonic excitation are investigated. The von Karman nonlinear strain-displacement relationships are used to describe the geometric nonlinearity. A specific boundary condition, with restrained normal displacement at the plate edges and fully free in-plane displacements, not previously considered, has been introduced as a consequence that it is very close to the experimental boundary condition. Results for this boundary condition are compared to nonlinear results previously obtained for: (i) simply supported plates with immovable edges; (ii) simply supported plates with movable edges, and (iii) fully clamped plates. The nonlinear equations of motion are studied by using a code based on pseudo-arclength continuation method. A thin rectangular stainless-steel plate has been inserted in a metal frame; this constraint is approximated with good accuracy by the newly introduced boundary condition. The plate inserted into the frame has been measured with a 3D laser system in order to reconstruct the actual geometry and identify geometric imperfections (out-of-planarity). The plate has been experimentally tested in laboratory for both the first and second vibration modes for several excitation magnitudes in order to characterize the nonlinearity of the plate with imperfections. Numerical results are able to follow experimental results with good accuracy for both vibration modes and for different excitation levels once the geometric imperfection is introduced in the model. Effects of geometric imperfections on the trend of nonlinearity and on natural frequencies are shown; convergence of the solution with the number of generalized coordinates is numerically verified. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.