Vibration analysis of stiffened multi-plate structure based on a modified variational principle

Abstract

In order to study the vibration characteristics of flow-induced open cavity structures, the dynamic model of stiffened multi-plate is established. The first-order shear deformable plate theory and the Timoshenko beam theory are used to model the displacement fields of isotropic plates and stiffeners, respectively. A modified variational principle combined with a multi-segment partitioning procedure is employed to formulate the discretized equations of motion. The stiffeners are considered as discrete elements, and the energy contributions are included into the system energy functional by using the displacement compatibility conditions. The displacement and rotation components of each plate segment are expanded by a duplicate series of Chebyshev orthogonal polynomials of first kind. The convergence and accuracy of the present results for isotropic stiffened plates with different boundary conditions have been validated using comparisons with the published data and those obtained from the finite element analyses. Free vibration and dynamic responses of stiffened multi-plates with either longitudinal or orthogonally oriented stiffeners are discussed. The mathematical model and methodology presented in this paper may be used as an appropriate numerical tool in the analysis and design of stiffened multi-plate structures.