TRANSVERSE VIBRATION OF SYMMETRICALLY LAMINATED RECTANGULAR COMPOSITE PLATES

A general numerical method for estimation of the vibrational response of symmetrically laminated rectangular composite plates is presented. This is based on the Rayleigh-Ritz method using the admissible 2-D orthogonal polynomials to derive the governing eigenvalue equation. The natural frequencies and mode shapes for the laminated plates are obtained by solving this governing eigenvalue equation. Several test problems are solved to demonstrate the accuracy and flexibility of the proposed method. The present results, where possible, are verified with those available values from the literature. The effects of the material, number of layers and fibre orientation upon the frequencies and mode shapes are discussed. This study may provide valuable information for researchers and engineers in design applications.