A New Method for Free Vibration Analysis of Triangular Isotropic and Orthotropic Plates of Isosceles Type Using an Accurate Series Solution

In this paper, a new method based on an accurate analytical series solution for free vibration of triangular isotropic and orthotropic plates is presented. The proposed solution is expressed in terms of undetermined arbitrary coefficients, which are exactly satisfied by the governing differential equation in free vibration. The approach used is based on an innovative extension of the superposition method through the application of a modified system of trigonometric functions. The boundary conditions for bending displacements and bending rotations on the sides of the triangular plate led to an infinite system of linear algebraic equations in terms of the undetermined coefficients. Following this development, the paper then presents an algorithm to solve the boundary value problem for isotropic and orthotropic triangular plates for any kinematic boundary conditions. Of course, the boundary conditions with zero displacements and zero rotations on all sides correspond to the case when the plate is fully clamped all around. The convergence of the proposed method is examined by numerical simulation applying stringent accuracy requirements to fulfill the prescribed boundary conditions. Some of the computed numerical results are compared with published results and finally, the paper draws significant conclusions.