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Composite Structures 89 (2009) 567574

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Composite Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct

New exact solutions for free vibrations of thin orthotropic rectangular plates
Y.F. Xing *, B. Liu
The Solid Mechanics Research Center, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing 100083, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Available online 27 November 2008
Keywords:
Orthotropic
Thin plates
Free vibration
Frequency
Separation of variables

a b s t r a c t
In this paper, a novel separation of variables is presented for solving the exact solutions for the free vibrations of thin orthotropic rectangular plates with all combinations of simply supported (S) and clamped
(C) boundary conditions, and the correctness of the exact solutions are proved mathematically. The exact
solutions for the three cases SSCC, SCCC, and CCCC are successfully obtained for the rst time, although it
was believed that they are unable to be obtained. The new exact solutions are further validated by extensive numerical comparisons with the solutions of FEM and those available in the literature.
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The orthotropic plates are commonly used in the elds of structural engineering and considered as the fundamental structural
elements [13] in aerospace, naval and ocean structures. The
orthotropic behavior not only arises from the use of materials with
such constitutive relations, many composite plates may be modeled analytically as orthotropic plates [4]. Isotropic plates altered
by metallurgical process along perpendicular directions, and panels unequally stiffened along two orthogonal directions, also exhibit orthotropic characteristics [1,4]. The wide use of such
structures requires investigating the vibration characteristics of
orthotropic plates in order to develop accurate and reliable design.
The study of the free vibration of plates dates back to the 1880s,
see references [57], as reported in the literature survey of Liew
and Xiang [8]. And an extensive review of the works up to 1985
has been given by Leissa in his monograph [9] and in a series of review articles [1013].
Problems involving rectangular plates fall into three distinct
categories [14]: (a) plates with all edges simply supported; (b)
plates with a pair of opposite edges simply supported; (c) plates
which do not fall into any of the above categories. Problems of
the rst and second categories are amenable to straightforward
rigorous analysis in terms of the well-known Navier and Levy solutions [15]. These methods can be simply extended to orthotropic
plates [16]. However, owing to coupled multiple differential equations of high order, it was believed that the problems of the third
category are difcult to deal with ([1,4] for example), rigorous analytical solutions, which satisfy the governing differential equation

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 82339964; fax: +86 10 82338527.

E-mail address: xingyf@buaa.edu.cn (Y.F. Xing).
0263-8223/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2008.11.010

and the boundary conditions exactly, turn out to be rare. For this
reason many efforts were devoted to develop approximate methods [1748].
Due to its high versatility and conceptual simplicity [17], the
RayleighRitz method is one of the most popular methods to obtain approximate solutions for the natural frequencies of an orthotropic rectangular plate. Hearmon [18] proposed an approximate
general solution for the free vibrations of the orthotropic plates
applying the Rayleigh method with characteristic beam functions.
Using a set of boundary characteristic orthogonal polynomials proposed by Bhat [19], Dickinson and Di Blasio [20] calculated the natural frequencies of rectangular orthotropic plates with various
boundary conditions. Particularly interesting, among the papers
using the RayleighRitz method, is the contribution of Marangoni
et al. [21], wherein the RayleighRitz method and the decomposition technique presented by Bazely et al. [22] were extended to
compute the upper and lower bounds of vibration frequencies for
clamped orthotropic rectangular plates. Rossi et al. [2] have used
the optimized RayleighRitz method and a pseudo-Fourier expansion to analyze the plates with one or more free edges, their results
showed excellent agreement with those obtained by means of
nite element method.
The method based on superposition of appropriate Levy type
solutions for the analysis of rectangular plates was rst illustrated
by Timoshenko and Krieger [23]. Gorman extended this method to
the free vibration analyses of isotropic [24], clamped orthotropic
[25], free orthotropic [26,27], point supported orthotropic [28],
and laminated symmetric cross-ply rectangular plates [29]. It has
been shown [30] that the approach is powerful for such problems
since the governing differential equation is satised rigorously at
every stage and the boundary conditions can be satised in a series
sense to any desired degree of accuracy. Yu and Cleghorn [31] em-

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568

Y.F. Xing, B. Liu / Composite Structures 89 (2009) 567574

ployed the superposition method and the afned transformation

developed by Brunelle and Oyibo [32] to obtain vibration frequencies for orthotropic rectangular plates with combinations of
clamped and simply supported edges, their results manifest high
accuracy through comparisons with the upper and lower bounds
of Marangoni et al. [21]. Recently, Bhaskar and Sivaram [33] expounded a novel superposition approach for the problems of static
exure, the distinguishing feature being the use of untruncated
series counterparts of the conventional lengthy Levy-type expressions without any loss of accuracy. Kshirsagar and Bhaskar [34] extended this method for the free vibration and buckling studies of
orthotropic rectangular plates with any combination of the conventional edge conditions.
The Kantorovich method [35] of reducing a partial differential
equation to an ordinary differential was extended, respectively
by Jones and Milne [36], and Bhat et al. [37] to study free vibration
of isotropic rectangular plates. Dalaei and Kerr [38], and Bercin [39]
used the method in reference [36] to obtain natural frequencies of
fully clamped orthotropic thin plates. Sakata et al. [40] applied the
method in reference [37] to the vibration analysis of rectangular
orthotropic plates, obtaining very accurate results. They emphasized that the method is simpler than others available in the literature such as, for example, the RayleighRitz method that requires
a larger computing effort.
Several other methods have also been investigated by researchers. Biancolini et al. [1] proposed a simplied approximate method
to evaluate the natural frequencies of an orthotropic plate. They
proclaimed the method is suitable to execute simple preliminary
design considerations for fast nal general checks of accuracy.
Jayaraman et al. [41] have studied free vibrations of rectangular
orthotropic plates with the two parallel sides simply supported
using an exact analysis. Ramkumar et al. [42] employed the Lagrange multiplier technique to study the free vibration behavior
of clamped orthotropic plates. Al-Khaiat [43] employed an initial
value method to analyze the vibration of rectangular orthotropic
plates. Chen [44] used an iterative approach based on nite difference equations to calculate the fundamental vibration frequency of
an orthotropic plate. Huang et al. [45] have used the Green function to analyze the free vibration of orthotropic rectangular plates
with variable thickness and general boundary conditions. Bardell
et al. [46,47] have studied the free vibrations of specially orthotropic plates and generally orthotropic coplanar plate assemblies
using a new hp nite element methodology. Excellent agreement
was found with the work of other investigators. Tsay and Reddy
[48] developed a nite element model that is very convenient,
especially when dealing with every-day design-type problems.
Of all the available solutions, those based on an exact approach,
wherein the governing equations and the boundary conditions are
satised rigorously, are valuable and computationally efcient
[33]; there is renewed interest in such classical solutions because
the solution methodologies are often applicable with minor
changes to modern state-of-the-art laminated plate structures
made up of functionally graded materials or those with magnetoelectrothermoelastic coupling effects ([49,50] for example). However, it is hitherto believed that there are no exact
solutions when at least two opposite sides of a rectangular plate,
whether isotropic or orthotropic, are not simply supported ([1,4]
for example), and many researchers have devoted to develop
approximate solutions with a high level of accuracy, see references
[913] and above review.
In this context, the objective of this work is to solve new exact
solutions with reference to the title problem by using a novel separation of variables. The remainder is organized as follows. In Section 2, the closed-form formulation of natural mode is solved by
using the method of separation of variables, and its correctness is
proved mathematically. In Section 3, the exact normal eigenfunc-

tions and eigenvalue equations for the boundary condition combinations SSCC, SCCC and CCCC are obtained through the mode
formulation and boundary conditions. In Section 4, the solution
method of the transcendental eigenvalue equations is discussed.
Numerical comparison studies are presented in Section 5, the conclusion follows.

2. The closed-form natural mode

An orthotropic material is characterized by the fact that the
mechanical elastic properties have two perpendicular planes of
symmetry. Due to this only four elastic constants E1, E2, G12, t12
are independent. The coefcient t21 can be determined according
to following relation

t12
E1

t21

E2

Dening some orthotropic bending stiffness parameters as

3

D1

E1 h
;
121  t12 t21

D12 t12 D2 t21 D1 ;

D2

E2 h
;
121  t12 t21

D66

G12 h
12

D3 D12 2D66

where h is the thickness of the uniform plate, see Fig. 1. Using the
LoveKirchhoffs hypotheses, the differential equation of the free
vibration of orthotropic thin plate has the form

D1

@ 4 wx; y; t
@ 4 wx; y; t
@ 4 wx; y; t
@ 2 wx; y; t

2D

q
h
3
2
@x4
@x2 @y2
@y4
@t 2
0
3

The solution of normal harmonic vibration of the plate can be written as

wx; y; t Wx; yA cos xt B sin xt

Substitution of Eq. (4) into Eq. (3) results in the following partial differential equation involved the natural mode W(x,y) as

D1

@4W
@4W
@4W
2D3 2 2 D2
 b4 W 0
@x4
@x @y
@y4

where the frequency parameter b4 = x2qh. The natural mode function W(x, y) can be solved from Eq. (5) in conjunction with the
boundary conditions. The simple or classical boundary conditions
for thin plate include the free, the simply supported and the
clamped. Consider a separation of variable solution

Wx; y /xwy

to the homogeneous governing Eq. (5), the following equation can

be obtained

D1 /IV w 2D3 /00 w00 D2 /wIV  b4 /w 0

z
b

Fig. 1. A rectangular plate and coordinates.

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Y.F. Xing, B. Liu / Composite Structures 89 (2009) 567574

In order for the separation of variables to occur, it was requested

that

w00 c2 w or /00 a2 /

Thus two opposite edges of the plates must be simply supported, i.e.
w = sin cy or u = sin ax, so that the condition (8) can be satised.In
present paper, the authors assume the eigenfunctions in Eq. (7) as

/x Aelx ;

wy Beky

where the variables l and k are the eigenvalues corresponding to

the eigenfunctions u(x) and w(y), respectively. Substituting Eq. (9)
into Eq.(7), one can obtain

D1 l4 2D3 l2 k2 D2 k4  b4 0

10

This is the characteristic equation of Eq. (7) or Eq. (5). By solving Eq.
(10), one can obtain the characteristic roots

l1;2 i #1 d1 D ia1 ; l3;4  #1  d1 D b1

D3
d1 k
;
D1

#
u " 2
u 4 D3
D2
b4
t

#1 k

D1
D1
D1

p D
k1;2 i #2 d2 ia2 ;

12

p D
k3;4  #2  d2 b2

13ab

D3
d2 l2
;
D2

#
u " 2
4
u
D
D
b
3
1

#2 tl4

D2
D2
D2

Regardless of the two opposite edges being SS, or SC or CC,

as shown in Fig. 2, the exact solutions of eigenfunctions and eigenvalue equations can be solved similarly, therefore only the case C
C is solved to show the solution methods of eigenfunctions and
eigenvalues. Assume both edges x = 0 and x = a are clamped (i.e.
the case CC), the boundary conditions have the form

W0; y 0 ) /0 0;

Wa; y 0 ) /a 0
19

14

uv
" 
#
uu
2
uu
D3
D1
b4
D3

 a21
a2 tta41

D2
D2
D2
D2
v

uv
" 
#
uu
2
uu
D3
D1
b4
D3
t
4

a21
b2 t a1

D2
D2
D2
D2

15a

15b

D23

2
1

a 

b21 2

12 3
1
0
1
0
A1
B
C6 B1 7
a
0
b
0
1
1
B
C6 7
@ cos a1 a
sin a1 a
cosh b1 a
sinh b1 a A4 C 1 5
H1
a1 sin a1 a a1 cos a1 a b1 sinh b1 a b1 cosh b1 a
2 3
0
607
7
6
405
0

20abcd
It can be solved from Eqs. (20a) and (20b) that

Eliminating k from Eq. (11), one can have

D1 D2  D23

Substitution of Eq. (17) into Eq. (19) results in four homogeneous

algebraic equations for unknown constants A1, B1, C1 and H1

Substitution of l = ia1, see Eq. (11a), into Eq. (13) leads to

The remaining problem is to prove the solution W(x, y) = u(x)w(y) in

Eq. (6), where u(x) and w(y) are given in Eqs. (17) and (18), is the
general solution of Eq. (5), and the prove is presented in Appendix
A.
For rectangular thin plate, as shown in Fig. 1, there are two
boundary conditions at each side, so only one of the eight integral
constants in Eqs. (17) and (18) is independent, and the integral
constants and both eigenvalue equations can be derived exactly
by means of the eight boundary conditions. It follows from Eqs.
(15) and (16) that if a1, b1 and the frequency parameter b have
been solved, then the eigenvalues a2 and b2 can be solved accordingly, that means a1, b1 and b can be considered as independent
parameters. The solutions methods for eigenvalues and frequencies will be presented below.

@W0; y=@x 0 ) /0 0 0 @Wa; y=@x 0 ) /0 a 0

where

b21 2

18

3. Eigenvalue equations and eigenfunctions

In Eq. (11), l is expressed by k. Conversely, k can be expressed by l,

that is

2
1

17

wy A2 cos a2 y B2 sin a2 y C 2 cosh b2 y H2 sinh b2 y

11ab

where i2 = 1, and

2

/x A1 cos a1 x B1 sin a1 x C 1 cosh b1 x H1 sinh b1 x

4b4

D1

16

A1 C 1
a1 B1 b1 H1

21

Then Eq. (20) can be rewritten as

It is noteworthy that Eqs. (15) and (16) will be used to solve the frequencies, this is done below. According to the characteristic roots in
Eqs. (11) and (13), the two eigenfunctions or the two Levys solutions in Eq. (9) can be written as

S
(a) SSCC

sin a1 a  sinh b1 a

!

C1
H1

 
0
0

22ab

a1

a1 sin a1 a b1 sinh b1 a b1  cos a1 a cosh b1 a

b1

cos a1 a  cosh b1 a

C
(b) SCCC

Fig. 2. The boundary conditions of plate.

C
(c) CCCC

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570

Y.F. Xing, B. Liu / Composite Structures 89 (2009) 567574

Table 1
The eigensolutions for the cases SSCC, SCCC and CCCC.

SSCC

SCCC

Eigenvalue equations

Normal eigenfunctions

tan a1 a
a1 a

sin a1 a
/x sin a1 x  sinh
sinh b1 x
b a

tanh b1 a
b1 a

tan a2 b
a2 b

tanh b2 b
b2 b

sin a2 b
wy sin a2 y  sinh
sinh b2 y
b b

tan a1 a
a1 a

b1 a
 tanh
0
b a

sin a1 a
/x sin a1 x  sinh
sinh b1 x
b a

a2 b2

1cos a2 b cosh b2 b
sin a2 b sinh b2 b

22a2 b 2
2

wy  cos a2 y b2 =a2 k1 sin a2 y cosh b2 y  k1 sinh b2 y

a2 acosh b2 a
k1 b =cos
a2 sin a2 asinh b a

1cos a1 a cosh b1 a
sin a1 a sinh b1 a

21a1 b 1
1

a2 b2

/x  cos a1 x b1 =a1 k2 sin a1 x cosh b1 x  k2 sinh b1 x

1cos a2 b cosh b2 b
sin a2 b sinh b2 b

22a2 b22

CCCC

a2 b2

wy  cos a2 y b2 =a2 k1 sin a2 y cosh b2 y  k1 sinh b2 y

For obtaining nontrivial solutions, the determinant of the coefcients matrix of the above homogeneous Eq. (22) must be zero, thus
the eigenvalue equation can be obtained as

1  cos a1 a cosh b1 a a21  b21

sin a1 a sinh b1 a
2a1 b1

where k2

cos a1 a  cosh b1 a
b1 =a1 sin a1 a  sinh b1 a

4. Solution method of eigenvalue equations

24

It is apparent from Table 1 that there are ve quantities a1, b1, b,

a2 and b2 in any two eigenvalue equations, but only three of them
are independent, for example a1, b1 and b, here a2 and b2 are cal-

Then the normal eigenfunction /(x) can be obtained by substituting

Eqs. (21) and (24) into Eq. (17) and assuming C1 = 1 as follows:

/x  cos a1 x b1 =a1 k2 sin a1 x cosh b1 x  k2 sinh b1 x

25

The exact eigenfunctions and eigenvalue equations corresponding

to the other two opposite edges y = 0 and y = b can be obtained in

Table 2
Four types of material properties.

M1
M2
M3
M4

the same way as above. The exact eigensolutions for cases SSCC,
SCCC and CCCC as shown in Fig. 2 are presented in Table 1. It should
be pointed out that the exact solutions for the three cases were not
available.

23

And one can also obtain from Eq. (22a) that

H1 k2 C 1

Material

E1 (GPa)

E2 (GPa)

G12 (GPa)

m12

q (kg/m)

T-graphite/epoxy
B-boron/epoxy
K-aryl/epoxy
E-glass/epoxy

185
208
76
60.7

10.5
18.9
5.6
24.8

7.3
5.7
2.3
12.0

0.28
0.23
0.34
0.23

1600
2000
1460

culated by using Eqs. (15a) and (15b), respectively.

The two eigenvalue equations involved a1, b1 and b can be
solved in conjunction with Eq. (16). In this paper Newtons method
is chosen to solve the transcendental equations. The initial values
of Newtons method can be appropriately determined according
to the characters of the eigenvalue equations. Let us take the case
SSCC as an example to show the method of determining the initial
values. From the denition of tangent functions in the two eigenvalue equations, it is readily to determine the intervals of a1a
and a2b, that is

a1 a 2 mp; mp 0:5p; m 1; 2; . . .
a2 b 2 np; np 0:5p; n 1; 2; . . .

26

The interval of b1 is determined as follows. It can be solved from Eq.

(11) that

b1

s
D
a21  2k2 3
D1

27

Table 3
p
Frequency parameter c a 4 x2 qh=D1 for plates with a  b=1m  1.2m and M1.
B.C.

Method

Mode sequence number

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

10th

SSCC

Exact
FEM

4.02
4.02

4.38
4.39

5.09
5.10

6.06
6.07

7.12
7.12

7.17
7.17

7.27
7.28

7.59
7.59

8.09
8.09

8.34
8.35

SCCC

Exact
FEM

4.04
4.05

4.49
4.50

5.28
5.29

6.30
6.31

7.12
7.12

7.30
7.31

7.44
7.45

7.66
7.66

8.21
8.21

8.63
8.64

CCCC

Exact
FEM

4.80
4.81

5.08
5.10

5.68
5.70

6.56
6.57

7.60
7.62

7.89
7.90

8.03
8.04

8.31
8.32

8.74
8.75

8.76
8.77

Table 4
p
Frequency parameter c a 4 x2 qh=D1 for CCCC plates with variable b and M2.
b

Method

Mode sequence number

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

10th

Exact
FEM

4.87
4.88

5.50
5.52

6.68
6.70

7.91
7.92

8.15
8.17

8.16
8.18

8.72
8.73

9.62
9.64

9.75
9.77

10.81
10.83

Exact
FEM

4.75
4.75

4.82
4.83

5.00
5.01

5.32
5.33

5.78
5.80

6.37
6.39

7.05
7.06

7.79
7.80

7.85
7.87

7.90
7.91

Exact
FEM

4.74
4.74

4.76
4.76

4.81
4.81

4.90
4.91

5.05
5.06

5.26
5.27

5.54
5.55

5.89
5.89

6.28
6.29

6.71
6.72

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571

Y.F. Xing, B. Liu / Composite Structures 89 (2009) 567574

Substituting k = ia2 into Eq. (27) leads to

a1a and a2b, and the initial value of b1 can be computed through

s
D3
b1 2a22
a21
D1

Eq. (28).

28

Thus the interval of b1 is determined by Eq. (28), wherein the intervals of a1 and a2 are determined by Eq. (26). The middle values of
the intervals in Eqs. (26) are recommended as the initial values of

5. Numerical comparisons and discussion

The main purpose of present work is to solve some new exact
solutions for the free vibrations of rectangular orthotropic thin
plates. Although the correctness of the new exact solutions have

Table 5
p
Frequency parameters c a 4 x2 qh=D1 for CCCC plates with variable b and M3.
b

Method

Mode sequence number

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

10th

Exact
FEM

4.85
4.87

5.41
5.44

6.48
6.50

7.87
7.85

7.92
7.92

8.15
8.16

8.66
8.67

9.33
9.35

9.47
9.48

10.54
10.56

Exact
FEM

4.75
4.75

4.82
4.82

4.98
4.99

5.26
5.27

5.68
5.69

6.21
6.22

6.83
6.84

7.50
7.51

7.87
7.88

7.90
7.91

Exact
FEM

4.74
4.74

4.76
4.76

4.81
4.81

4.90
4.90

5.03
5.04

5.22
5.23

5.47
5.48

5.77
5.78

6.12
6.13

6.52
6.53

Table 6
p
Frequency parameters cij xij a2 qh=D1 for D3 = D1, D2 = D1.
B.C.

b/a

References

(1, 1)

(2, 1)

(3, 1)

(1, 2)

(2, 2)

(3, 2)

SSCC

0.5

Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]

70.877
71.081
26.867
27.059
17.719
17.770

100.436
100.803
60.549
60.667
52.346
52.343

151.576
151.906
114.568
114.633
106.640
106.649

209.302
209.377
60.549
60.667
25.109
25.201

238.135
238.347
92.665
92.844
59.534
59.587

287.227
287.542
145.786
145.937
113.856
113.894

Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]

72.899
73.405
31.438
31.833
24.066
24.144

107.469
108.236
70.877
71.081
63.714
63.742

164.387
165.023
130.240
130.353
123.066
123.081

210.362
210.526
63.053
63.340
30.071
30.253

242.197
242.667
100.436
100.803
70.052
70.143

295.698
296.366
159.198
159.487
129.641
129.693

Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]

97.542
98.324
35.112
35.999
24.358
24.581

125.751
127.333
72.899
73.405
63.920
63.985

177.613
179.115
131.629
131.902
123.217
123.249

255.678
255.939
72.899
73.405
31.438
31.833

283.509
284.325
107.469
108.236
70.877
71.081

331.850
333.125
164.387
165.023
130.240
130.353

1.0
2.0
CSCC

0.5
1.0
2.0

CCCC

0.5
1.0
2.0

Mode shape

Table 7
p
Frequency parameters cij xij a2 qh=D1 for D3 = 0.5 D1, D2 = D1.
b/a

References

Mode shape
(3, 1)

(1, 2)

(2, 2)

(3, 2)

0.5

Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]

67.331
67.497
24.449
24.610
16.833
16.874

90.528
90.838
56.603
56.700
51.248
51.261

137.293
137.574
110.137
110.189
105.504
105.510

204.990
205.045
56.603
56.700
22.632
22.710

222.753
222.923
82.431
82.584
55.688
55.731

258.282
258.547
131.639
131.766
109.558
109.581

Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]

69.254
69.687
29.296
29.625
23.385
23.447

97.795
98.440
67.331
67.497
62.772
62.794

150.754
151.290
126.178
126.268
122.034
122.045

205.859
205.994
59.021
59.270
27.906
28.057

226.410
226.800
90.528
90.838
66.600
66.672

266.561
267.127
145.751
145.990
125.690
125.730

Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]

94.725
95.391
33.174
33.917
23.681
23.848

117.182
118.502
69.254
69.687
62.939
62.991

164.294
165.583
127.382
127.613
122.150
122.175

251.755
251.965
69.254
69.687
29.296
29.625

269.323
269.987
97.795
98.440
67.331
67.497

304.619
305.677
150.754
151.290
126.178
126.268

(1, 1)
SSCC

1.0
2.0
CSCC

0.5
1.0
2.0

CCCC

0.5
1.0
2.0

(2, 1)

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572

Y.F. Xing, B. Liu / Composite Structures 89 (2009) 567574

Table 8
p
Frequency parameters cij xij a2 qh=D1 for D3 = 0.5 D1, D2 = 0.5 D1.
b/a

References

Mode shape
(3, 1)

(1, 2)

(2, 2)

(3, 2)

0.5

Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]

51.302
51.507
21.898
22.042
16.609
16.638

79.310
79.602
55.508
55.578
51.159
51.168

130.072
130.294
109.529
109.564
105.451
105.455

148.490
148.564
44.228
44.342
20.844
20.910

172.181
172.386
74.462
74.599
54.959
54.990

216.154
216.429
126.736
126.835
109.162
109.178

Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]

53.831
54.344
27.258
27.527
23.235
23.277

87.591
88.169
66.436
66.552
62.702
62.716

144.279
144.689
125.658
125.719
121.990
121.997

149.691
149.870
47.305
47.584
26.501
26.620

176.911
177.369
83.374
83.640
66.000
66.052

226.031
226.602
141.366
141.547
125.349
125.377

Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]
Exact
Ref. [4]

70.524
71.371
29.329
29.986
23.399
23.504

98.828
100.126
67.509
67.802
62.806
62.840

151.822
152.844
126.377
126.522
122.065
122.082

181.529
181.816
53.831
54.344
27.258
27.527

205.209
206.026
87.591
88.169
66.436
66.552

249.726
250.861
144.279
144.689
125.658
125.719

(1, 1)
SSCC

1.0
2.0
CSCC

0.5
1.0
2.0

CCCC

0.5
1.0
2.0

(2, 1)

Table 9
q
4
2
Frequency parameters c a 12qx2 =E2 h for orthotropic rectangular plates with M4.

SSCC

b/a

References

1st

2nd

4th

5th

6th

1.0

Exact
Ref. [45]
Exact
Ref. [45]

5.803
5.818
5.113
5.115

8.087
8.090
5.679
5.684

9.339
9.330
6.618
6.612

10.703
10.695
7.813
7.759

10.911
10.879
8.990
8.977

12.806
12.772
9.299
9.287

Exact
Ref. [45]
Exact
Ref. [45]

6.119
6.156
5.149
5.156

8.676
8.683
5.803
5.816

9.437
9.435
6.831
6.826

11.007
11.007
8.087
8.018

11.599
11.555
9.000
8.988

13.189
13.135
9.339
9.330

Exact
Ref. [45]
Exact
Ref. [45]

6.714
6.780
6.073
6.080

8.921
8.953
6.508
6.532

10.297
10.293
7.308
7.320

11.605
11.615
8.401
8.347

11.720
11.686
9.678
9.698

13.663
13.636
9.962
9.941

2.0
CSCC

1.0
2.0

CCCC

1.0
2.0

Mode sequence number

been proved mathematically (see Appendix A), extensive numerical comparison studies are also presented in this section. We focus
only on the three newly solved cases SSCC, SCCC and CCCC, and the
exact frequencies are compared with the results calculated by FEM
and other approximate methods [4,21,31,45]. Four distinct types of
materials in Table 2 and the thickness h = 0.02 m are used in the
numerical comparison.
In Tables 35, the exact results are compared with the results
calculated using MSC/NASTRAN with the Bending Panel element
whose size is 1 cm  1 cm. In Table 3, the exact results for cases
SSCC, SCCC and CCCC are studied comparatively for M1 (see Table
2) and a  b = 1 m  1.2 m. In Table 4 and Table 5, the exact results
for CCCC orthotropic plates with variable length b are compared for
M2 and M3, respectively. It is found that all exact results in Tables
35 agree excellently with the FEM results.
In Tables 68, the results in reference [4], calculated through
Kantorovich method, are used for comparison, and the frequency
parameter cij, corresponding to the mode shape having i and j half
waves in x and y directions, respectively, are calculated for different aspect ratios b/a, different exural rigidity ratios D3/D1 and
D2/D1. It is noteworthy that the exact frequencies in Tables 38
are slightly smaller than the results used for comparisons, since
the frequencies obtained by using the two approximate methods
are the upper bounds.
In Table 9, the results [45] of Green function method are used
for comparison studies which are carried out for SSCC, CSCC and

3rd

Table 10
p
Frequency parameters c xa2 qh=D1 for CCCC orthotropic rectangular plates with
D1 = 1.543 D3, D2 = 4.810 D3.
a/b

Mode

Upper bounds [21]

Lower bounds [21]

Ref. [31]

Exact

0.5

1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2

25.425
37.715
47.482
78.015
93.981
115.45
161.95
177.91

25.420
37.303
47.473

93.960

161.85

25.424
37.719
47.481
78.021
93.980
115.47
161.95
177.94

25.104
37.330
46.741
77.300
93.378
114.33
161.51
176.78

1.0
1.5
2.0

Table 11
p
Frequency parameters c xa2 qh=D1 for CCCC orthotropic rectangular plates with
D1 = 4.310 D3, D2 = 0.305 D3.
a/b

Mode

Upper bounds [21]

Lower bounds [21]

Ref. [31]

Exact

0.5

1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2

22.780
24.083
24.566
32.007
28.871
49.230
36.620
73.344

22.723
23.774
24.488
31.210
28.783
48.243
36.337

22.780
24.089
24.564
32.023
28.869
49.354
36.618
73.353

22.757
24.009
24.358
31.624
28.289
48.825
35.735
72.827

1.0
1.5
2.0

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573

Y.F. Xing, B. Liu / Composite Structures 89 (2009) 567574

Table 12
p
Frequency parameters c xa2 qh=D1 for CCCC orthotropic rectangular plates with
D1 = 2.0 D3, D2 = 1.0 D3.

Appendix A

a/b

Mode

Upper bounds [21]

Lower bounds [21]

Ref. [31]

Exact

0.5

1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2

23.504
27.513
29.981
54.328
45.830
79.423
71.365
100.08

23.448
26.990
29.894
53.318
45.738

71.269

23.503
27.524
29.979
54.337
45.828
79.437
71.362
100.11

23.398
27.258
29.329
53.831
44.898
78.625
70.524
98.828

uv
" 
#
uu
2
4
uu
D
D
b
D
3
1
3

b21
a2 ttb41

D2
D2
D2
D2

uv
" 
#
uu
2
4
uu
D3
D1
b
D3

 b21
b2 ttb41

D2
D2
D2
D2

1.0
1.5
2.0

Substituting l = b1 into Eq. (13), one can have

A1

A2

Eqs. (A1) and (A2) can be rewritten as

CCCC plates for two aspect ratios. It is apparent that the exact results are slightly larger or smaller than the results in reference
[45], since in which the frequencies were obtained using Green
function method in conjunction with numerical integration based
on interpolation method.
In Tables 1012, more exact results are presented for clamped
orthotropic plates for different aspect ratios and different rigidity
ratios D1/D3 and D2/D3. Some results used for comparison are from
reference [21] wherein the RayleighRitz technique using clamped
beam eigenfunctions and the decomposition technique (see reference [22]) were employed to estimate the upper bounds and lower
bounds, respectively; and some results used for comparison are
from reference [31] where the superposition method and the afned transformation (see reference [32]) were employed to obtain
accurate natural frequencies for orthotropic rectangular plates.
It follows from Tables 1012 that the exact results are slightly
smaller than the upper bounds; all the second frequencies are
within the upper and lower bounds whenever the lower bounds
are available; however, for the rst frequencies, except for the
one of Table 11 for a/b = 0.5, all of them are smaller than the lower
bounds, this is bound to the inaccuracy of the lower bounds.
Marangoni et al. [21] have stated that their lower bounds are less
accurate than the upper bounds. And the upper bounds and the
lower bounds for the rst modes are almost the same.
All comparisons in Tables 312 are limited to the three cases
SSCC, SCCC, CCCC, as shown in Fig. 2, the exact solutions of which
are obtained for the rst time. All the exact results agree perfectly
with the results used for comparisons, therefore the present exact
solutions are validated.

D1 b41  2D3 b21 a22 D2 a42  b4 0

A3

D1 b42 2D3 b22 b21 D2 b41  b4 0

A4

Similarly, Eqs. (15a) and (15b) can also be rewritten as

D1 a41 2D3 a21 a22 D2 a42  b4 0

4
1

2 2
1 b2

D1 a  2D3 a

D2 b42

A5

b 0

A6

Eqs. (17) and (18) can be changed to

/x /1 x /2 x

A7

wy w1 y w2 y

A8

where

/1 x A1 cos a1 x B1 sin a1 x;

/2 x C 1 cosh b1 x H1 sinh b1 x

w1 y A2 cos a2 y B2 sin a2 y;

w2 y C 2 cosh b2 y H2 sinh b2 y

A9
A10
By substituting Eqs. (A7) and (A8) into the left side of Eq. (7), one
can obtain

D1 /IV w 2D3 /00 w00 D2 /wIV  b4 /w



D1 a41 2D3 a21 a22 D2 a42  b4 /1 w1


D1 a41  2D3 a21 b22 D2 b42  b4 /1 w2


D1 b41  2D3 b21 a22 D2 a42  b4 /2 w1


D1 b42 2D3 b22 b21 D2 b41  b4 /2 w2
Substituting Eqs. (A3)(A6) into Eq. (A11) yields

D1 /IV w 2D3 /00 w00 D2 /wIV  b4 /w 0

6. Conclusions

Thus the expression (6) is the solution of Eq. (5).

For the free vibrations of rectangular orthotropic plates, the

general mathematical expression of natural mode has been derived
here by means of the novel separation of variables. The general
solution satises the governing equation of the eigenvalue problem
exactly, and is applicable for all kinds of boundary conditions. As
would be clear to anyone familiar with analysis of plates/shells,
the present method can be directly extended for buckling analysis
of plates.
In present study, the exact mode functions and the frequency
equations for the cases SSCC, SCCC and CCCC were obtained for
the rst time, since no such results have been reported heretofore.
It is expected that the new exact results will provide other
researchers with data against which they can compare their
results.

References

Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10772014).

A11

A12

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