Mode shapes and frequencies of thin rectangular plates with arbitrarily varying non-homogeneity along two concurrent edges

Analysis and numerical results are presented for free transverse vibrations of isotropic rectangular plates having arbitrarily varying non-homogeneity with the in-plane coordinates along the two concurrent edges on the basis of Kirchhoff plate theory. For the non-homogeneity, a general type of variation for Young’s modulus and density of the plate material has been assumed. Generalized differential quadrature method has been used to obtain the eigenvalue problem for such model of plates for four different combinations of boundary conditions at the edges namely, (i) fully clamped, (ii) two opposite edges are clamped and other two are simply supported, (iii) two opposite edges are clamped and other two are free, and (iv) two opposite edges are simply supported and other two are free. By solving these eigenvalue problems using software MATLAB, the lowest three eigenvalues have been reported as the first three natural frequencies for the first three modes of vibration. The effect of various plate parameters on the vibration characteristics has been analysed. Three dimensional mode shapes have been plotted. A comparison of results with those available in literature has been presented.