ANALYSIS OF MINDLIN FLAT PLATE FOR FREE VIBRATIONS USING FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

Abstract

The present 9 — noded Heterosis element is a hybrid of the 3 — noded Serendipity and the 9 — noded Lagrange elements, The boundary nodes of the Heterosis element are characterized by the Serendipity shape functions and the central node by the Lagrange shape function. A general finite element formulation is pre anted for the Mindlin Flat Plate which incorporates all the three types of elements as stated above. A free vibration analysis was carried out Tor Me Mindlin-flat plate to test the validity of the Heterosis element. and its performance in comparison with the Serendipity and Lagrange elements. The analysis was performed on a square and rectangular plate, simply supported on all edges. Plates with different a/h ratios were used and also different integration rules were employed, The analysis revealed the Heterosis element to be a pros. pective candidate for free. vibration analysis of plates. A computer program was developed for computing the relevant results.