Applied Mathematical Modelling 53 (2018) 310–318

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Applied Mathematical Modelling

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apm

On new analytic free vibration solutions of rectangular thin

cantilever plates in the symplectic space
Rui Li a,b,∗, Pengcheng Wang a, Zekun Yang a,c, Jiaqi Yang a,c, Linghui Tong a,c
a
State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis for Industrial Equipment, Department of Engineering Mechanics, International Research
Center for Computational Mechanics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, PR China
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
c
School of Naval Architecture & Ocean Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper, we obtain accurate analytic free vibration solutions of rectangular thin can-
Received 7 January 2017 tilever plates by using an up-to-date rational superposition method in the symplectic
Revised 2 August 2017
space. To the authors’ knowledge, these solutions were not available in the literature due
Accepted 6 September 2017
to the difficulty in handling the complex mathematical model. The Hamiltonian system-
Available online 15 September 2017
based governing equation is first constructed. The eigenvalue problems of two fundamental
Keywords: vibration problems are formed for a cantilever plate. By symplectic expansion, the funda-
Analytic solution mental solutions are obtained. Superposition of these solutions are equal to that of the
Free vibration cantilever plate, which yields the analytic frequency equation. The mode shapes are then
Cantilever plate readily obtained. The developed method yields the benchmark analytic solutions with fast
Symplectic space convergence and satisfactory accuracy by rigorous derivation, without assuming any trial
solutions; thus, it is regarded as rational, and its applicability to more boundary value
problems of partial differential equations represented by plates’ vibration, bending and
buckling may be expected.
© 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

In both mechanical and civil engineering, thin plates play an important role. They are generally used as support
structures such as bridge decks, floor slabs, foundation beds, and aircraft panels. In elasticity, thin plates are well described
by the Kirchhoff plate theory, which has been an indispensable part of solid mechanics. In applied mathematics, the
above mechanics model is affiliated with a class of biharmonic equations, which are the fourth-order partial differential
equations (PDEs). With proper boundary constraints, the associated boundary value problems arise. It is well known that
such a high-order PDE is normally hard to solve analytically, especially for that with specific boundary conditions. Taking
rectangular thin plates as examples, their free vibration problems have long been the key issues in elasticity and there
is a fairly large literature on the topic. However, except the plates with two opposite edges simply supported, few of the
others have been analytically solved by the classical approaches. Some newly proposed analytic methods are found in
recent publications, which focus on specific plates without two opposite edges simply supported, such as those with point
supports or with all edges free. However, the rectangular thin cantilever plates, characterized by involving free corners and

∗
Corresponding author at: State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis for Industrial Equipment, Department of Engineering Mechanics, International
Research Center for Computational Mechanics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, PR China.
E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (R. Li).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apm.2017.09.011
0307-904X/© 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 R. Li et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 53 (2018) 310–318 311

Nomenclature

a, b In-plane dimensions of plate

D Flexural rigidity of plate
E, F, G, H Coefficients of series expansion
h Thickness of plate
H Hamiltonian matrix
I Unit matrix
J Symplectic matrix
Mx , My Bending moments per unit distance in plate
Vx , Vy Equivalent shear forces per unit distance in plate
w Modal displacement
x, y Rectangular coordinates
X(x), Y’(y) Eigenvectors
Y(y), X’(x) Coefficient functions of eigenvectors
Z, Z’ State vectors
μ, μ’ Eigenvalues
v Poisson’s ratio
θ Derivative of w with respect to y
ρ Mass density of plate
ω Circular frequency

both clamped and free edges, have not been well treated, and there have been no accurate analytic solutions found in the
literature, although they are of much importance in engineering applications, such as the overhanging roofs, airplane wings,
cantilever bridges and balconies, and even in micro/nano technology, such as the atomic force microscope cantilevers. This
paper aims to explore the analytic free vibration solutions of such a classical but extremely difficult class of problems.
There are various solution methods for rectangular thin cantilever plates’ free vibration, most of which are, of course, ap-
proximate or numerical, as introduced in Leissa’s famous technical report [1]. The Ritz method was used by Barton [2] to de-
termine approximate solutions for the frequencies and modes of vibration of rectangular and skew cantilever plates, where
the deflection functions correspond to those defining the normal modes of vibration of a beam. Claassen and Thorne [3] ap-
plied the Fourier sine-series method to obtain approximate solutions for the transverse vibrations of a thin rectangular can-
tilever plate. Rajalingham et al. [4] obtained closed form approximation of vibration modes of rectangular cantilever plates
by the variational reduction method, where the plate PDE was reduced to two simultaneous ordinary differential equations
and their boundary conditions. Liang et al. [5] presented a simple procedure using an empirical added mass formulation
and Rayleigh–Ritz method to analyze the vibration frequencies and mode shapes of submerged cantilever plates. Ergin and
Uğurlu [6] then investigated the dynamic characteristics, such as natural frequencies and mode shapes, of cantilever plates
partially submerged in a fluid by use of a boundary-integral equation method together with the method of images. Seok et
al. [7] performed an analysis of the free transverse vibrations of a cantilevered plate by means of a variational approximation
procedure. Looker and Sader [8] proposed a simple uniformly valid expression for the fundamental flexural vibration fre-
quency of a thin rectangular cantilever plate using an accurate variational approach based on an energy minimization prin-
ciple and a singular perturbation solution. Rostami et al. [9] recently provided accurate approximate solution for in-plane
vibrations of rotating orthotropic cantilever plates using the Extended Kantorovich Method. There are some other popular
numerical solution methods for plate problems. Lindsay et al. [10] studied the vibration of a thin plate with a collection of
clamped patches, and obtained detailed information on the limiting behavior in the form of an asymptotic expansion in the
limit of small patch radius. Civalek et al. [11–13] developed the discrete singular convolution method for the free vibration
analysis of both thin and thick plates. The plate buckling problems were analyzed by Civalek [14] and Malekzadeh et al.
[15,16] by employing the differential quadrature method. Zenkour et al. [17,18] investigated the buckling and free vibration
of plates using approximate displacement solutions, which depend on the boundary conditions on the plate edges.
Except for the approximate or numerical methods, there are few analytic methods handling the plate problems. Gorman
[19] employed the semi-inverse superposition method to analyze the first five symmetric and anti-symmetric free vibration
modes of a cantilever plate for a wide range of aspect ratios. Zhong et al. [20] used the double finite integral transform
method to derive the eigenfrequencies and vibration modes of rectangular thin cantilever plates. The method was also
applied by Tian et al. [21] to bending of the rectangular thick plates. Xing and Liu [22,23] proposed a method of direct
separation of variables to obtain both the in-plane and out-of-plane free vibration solutions of rectangular thin or thick
plates. Lim et al. [24] developed the symplectic elasticity approach for free vibration of rectangular Levy-type thin plates
employing the Hamiltonian variational principle with Legendre’s transformation. The approach was proposed by Yao et al.
[25] and has been extended to many other fields, as described in a comprehensive review by Lim and Xu [26]. It should be
noted that the conventional symplectic method has not exhibited the ability to analytically solve the vibration of the plates
with free edges while without two simply supported opposite edges.
312 R. Li et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 53 (2018) 310–318

Fig. 1. Symplectic superposition for free vibration of a rectangular thin cantilever plate.

In recent years, we have proposed a novel analytic symplectic superposition method, which has shown applicability to
general mechanics problems of the plates by obtaining the analytic solutions of some thin/thick plates’ bending, vibration
and buckling problems [27–29]. In this paper, we develop the symplectic superposition method further to explore accurate
analytic free vibration solutions of isotropic rectangular thin cantilever plates. The procedure starts from solving the
Hamiltonian system-based governing equation of two fundamental problems, where the mathematical techniques in the
symplectic space are applied, including the separation of variables, which is sometimes invalid in the Euclid space, and
symplectic eigen expansion. Based on the obtained analytic solutions, skillful superposition is imposed to yield the analytic
solution of the original problem. There are some boundary conditions to be satisfied in equating the superposition of the
fundamental solutions to the final solution of a cantilever plate, which leads to the frequency equation. One will see in
the following that the developed method derives the analytic solutions in an elegant rational way, because there are no
predetermined solutions but rigorous derivations from the governing equation. This constitutes the main advantage of the
method, enabling one to obtain the analytic solutions which were not available in the past, including those developed in
this paper. Many numerical results are presented to show the convergence and accuracy of the new analytic solutions by
excellent comparison with those from the literature, if any, and the finite element method (FEM). They are expected to
serve as the benchmarks for validation of the other methods.

2. Governing equation and fundamental solutions by symplectic eigen expansion

The governing equation for free vibration of a thin isotropic plate in the rectangular coordinate system (x, y) can be
expressed in the Hamiltonian system as [27,30]

∂ Z/∂ y = HZ, (2.1)

Q = [ρ hω
2 −D (1−ν 2 )∂ 4 /∂ x4
where Z = [w, θ , T, My ]T , H = [QF G
−FT
], 0
0
2D (1−ν )∂ 2 /∂ x2
], F = [−ν∂ 20/∂ x2 10], and G = [00 0
−1/D
]. The components
of the state vector Z include the modal displacement w, derivative of w with respect to y: θ , opposite of the equivalent
shear force Vy : T, where Vy = −D[∂ 3 w/∂ y3 + (2 − ν )∂ 3 w/∂ x2 ∂ y], and bending moment parallel to the x axis: My . ρ is the
mass density, h the plate thickness, ω the circular frequency, D the flexural rigidity, and ν the Poisson’s ratio. In Eq. (2.1),
the matrix H satisfies HT = JHJ, where J = [−I0 I2
0
] is the symplectic matrix in which I2 is the 2 × 2 unit matrix. This means
2
that H is a Hamiltonian matrix with differential operators.
By Eq. (2.1), the free vibration problem of a thin plate is actually described in the symplectic space [25] such that the
separation of variables and symplectic eigen expansion are valid and the rational analytic solutions can be obtained without
predetermining the solution forms, which cannot be realized with the classical semi-inverse method in the Euclidean space.
As shown in Fig. 1(a), what we consider is a rectangular thin cantilever plate. The origin, O, is at a corner of the plate.
The x and y axes are directed along the plate edges with lengths a and b, respectively. The solution approach here starts
from dividing the problem into two fundamental problems, as shown in Fig. 1(b,c), whose solutions will be obtained
by symplectic eigen expansion in the following. Superposition of the fundamental solutions yields the solution of the
cantilever plate. It must be pointed out that each fundamental solution has the constants to be determined by equating the
superposition of the fundamental problems’ supports at each edge with the support at the associated edge of the cantilever
plate. The generated equations are used to determine the natural frequencies, which will be elaborated in Section 3.
In Fig. 1(b), the plate is slidingly clamped at x = 0, x = a, y = 0, and simply supported at y = b; the slope denoted by
θ |y = 0 and bending moment denoted by My |y = b are imposed along y = 0 and y = b, respectively. In Fig. 1(c), the same plate
is subject to the slopes ∂ w/∂ x|x=0 and ∂ w/∂ x|x=a distributed along x = 0 and x = a, respectively. The above two fundamental
problems are solved below.
For the first fundamental problem as shown in Fig. 1(b), solving Eq. (2.1) is first reduced to solving dY (y )/dy = μY (y )
and the eigenvalue problem HX(x) = μX(x) by applying Z = X(x) Y(y) via variable separation, where Y(y) is a function of y
only, μ the eigenvalue, and X(x) = [w(x), θ (x), T(x), My (x)]T the eigenvector. The eigenvalue problem is solved under the
boundary conditions ∂ w(x )/∂ x|x=0,a = Vx (x )|x=0,a = 0, where Vx (x) is the factor of the equivalent shear force Vx (x,y) which
is equal to −D[∂ 3 w(x, y )/∂ x3 + (2 − ν )∂ 3 w(x, y )/∂ x∂ y2 ]. It is not difficult to obtain the following eigenvalues:
   
μn 1 = αn2 + R, μn2 = − αn2 + R, μn3 = αn2 − R, μn4 = − αn2 − R (2.2)
 R. Li et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 53 (2018) 310–318 313


for n = 0, 1, 2, 3, , where αn = nπ /a, and R = ω ρ h/D. It is noted that there are four groups of eigenvalues given in
Eq. (2.2), which depend on the non-negative integer n. Corresponding to Eq. (2.2), we have the eigenvectors
     T
Xn1 (x ) = 1, αn2 + R, D R − αn2 (1 − ν ) αn2 + R, −D R + αn2 (1 − ν ) cos (αn x ),
     T
Xn2 (x ) = 1, − αn2 + R, −D R − αn2 (1 − ν ) αn2 + R, −D R + αn2 (1 − ν ) cos (αn x ),
       T
Xn3 (x ) = 1, αn2 − R, −D R + αn2 (1 − ν ) αn2 − R, D R − αn2 (1 − ν ) cos (αn x ),
      
 T
Xn4 (x ) = 1, − αn2 − R, D R + αn2 (1 − ν ) αn2 − R, D R − αn2 (1 − ν ) cos (αn x ). (2.3)

For each μ, dY (y )/dy = μY (y ) yields the corresponding Y(y) such that

    
Yn1 (y ) = cn1 exp αn2 + Ry , Yn2 (y ) = cn2 exp − αn2 + Ry ,
    
Yn3 (y ) = cn3 exp αn2 − Ry , Yn4 (y ) = cn4 exp − αn2 − Ry , (2.4)

where cn1 to cn4 are the constants to be determined. The solution of Eq. (2.1) is thus written as

Z = X ( x )Y ( y ), (2.5)
where

X(x ) = [· · · , Xn1 (x ), Xn2 (x ), Xn3 (x ), Xn4 (x ), · · ·],

Y(y ) = [· · · , Yn1 (y ), Yn2 (y ), Yn3 (y ), Yn4 (y ), · · ·] .
T
(2.6)
At the slidingly clamped edge y = 0 and the simply supported edge y = b, the imposed slope θ |y = 0 and the bending
moment My |y = b are respectively expanded to the cosine series, i.e.
∞ ∞
Vy |y=0 = 0, θ |y=0 = En cos (αn x ), w|y=b = 0, My |y=b = Fn cos (αn x ), (2.7)
n=0,1,2,··· n=0,1,2,···

where En and Fn are the coefficients of expansion. Substituting the solution (2.5) into Eq. (2.7) to determine the constants
cn1 to cn4 , the dimensionless modal displacement for the first fundamental problem, w1 (x,y), is
w1 (x̄, ȳ ) 1 √ √ √ √ √  √ 
= E0 ω̄ sh φ ω̄ȳ − tanh φ ω̄ ch φ ω̄ȳ − sec φ ω̄ sin φ ω̄ (1 − ȳ )
a 2ω̄
 √ √ √ √ 
+ F̄0 sec φ ω̄ cos φ ω̄ȳ − sech φ ω̄ ch φ ω̄ȳ
∞
cos (π nx̄ )
− En sech(φεn )sh[φεn (1 − ȳ )] εn 2 − ν n2 π 2 /εn
2ω̄
n=1,2,3,···

−sech(φςn )sh[φςn (1 − ȳ )] ςn 2 − ν n2 π 2 /ςn

+F̄n [sech(φεn )ch(φεn ȳ ) − sech(φςn )ch(φςn ȳ )] , (2.8)
    
where x̄ = x/a, ȳ = y/b, φ = b/a, F̄0 = aF0 /D, F̄n = aFn /D, ω̄ = ωa2 ρ h/D, εn = n2 π 2 + ω̄, and ςn = n2 π 2 − ω̄ are all
dimensionless.
For the second fundamental problem as shown in Fig. 1(c), the coordinates exchange should be applied such that x (y)
and a (b) are respectively replaced by y (x) and b (a). Therefore, solving the modified governing equation ∂ Z /∂ x = H Z
is first reduced to solving dX  (x )/dx = μ X  (x ) and the eigenvalue problem H Y (y) = μ Y (y) by applying Z = Y (y) X (x) via
variable separation, where X (x) is a function of x only, μ the eigenvalue, and Y (y ) = [w(y ), ∂ w/∂ x(y ), −Vx (y ), Mx (y )]T the

in which Q = [ρ hω
2 −D (1−ν 2 )∂ 4 /∂ y4
eigenvector; H = [QF  G
−F
T ],
0
0
2D (1−ν )∂ 2 /∂ y2
] and F = [−ν∂ 20/∂ y2 10]. The eigenvalue problem is
solved under the boundary conditions ∂ w(y )/∂ y|y=0 = Vy (y )|y=0 = 0 and w(y)|y = b = My (y)|y = b = 0. The obtained eigenvalues
are
   
μn1 = βn2 + R, μn2 = − βn2 + R, μn3 = βn2 − R, μn4 = − βn2 − R (2.9)
for n = 1, 3, 5, , where βn = nπ /(2b). Corresponding to Eq. (2.9), we have the eigenvectors
     T
Ys n1 (y ) = 1, βn2 + R, D R − βn2 (1 − ν ) βn2 + R, −D R + βn2 (1 − ν ) cos (βn y ),
     T
Y n2 (y ) = 1, − βn2 + R, −D R − βn2 (1 − ν ) βn2 + R, −D R + βn2 (1 − ν ) cos (βn y ),
314 R. Li et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 53 (2018) 310–318

     T
Y n3 (y ) = 1, βn2 − R, −D R + βn2 (1 − ν ) βn2 − R, D R − βn2 (1 − ν ) cos (βn y ),
     T
Y n4 (y ) = 1, − βn2 − R, D R + βn2 (1 − ν ) βn2 − R, D R − βn2 (1 − ν ) cos (βn y ). (2.10)

For each μ , dX  (x )/dx = μ X  (x ) yields the corresponding X (x) such that

    
X  n1 (x ) = c n1 exp βn2 + Rx , X  n2 (x ) = c n2 exp − βn2 + Rx ,
    
X  n3 (x ) = c n3 exp βn2 − Rx , X  n4 (x ) = c n4 exp − βn2 − Rx , (2.11)

where cn1 to cn4 are the constants to be determined. The solution of the second fundamental problem is thus written as

Z = Y ( y )X ( x ), (2.12)
where
 
Y ( y ) = · · · , Y n1 ( y ), Y n2 ( y ), Y n3 ( y ), Y n4 ( y ), · · · ,
 T
X (x ) = · · · , X  n1 (x ), X  n2 (x ), X  n3 (x ), X  n4 (x ), · · · . (2.13)
At the slidingly clamped edges x = 0 and x = a, the imposed slopes ∂ w/∂ x|x=0 and ∂ w/∂ x|x=a are respectively expanded
to the half cosine series, i.e.
 
∂ w  ∞
∂ w  ∞
Vx |x=0 = 0,  = G cos ( β y ) , V | = 0 ,  = H cos (βn y ). (2.14)
∂ x x=0 n=1,3,5,··· n n x x=a
∂ x x=a n=1,3,5,··· n
where Gn and Hn are the coefficients of expansion. Substituting the solution (2.12) into Eq. (2.14) to determine the constants
c n1 to c n4 , the dimensionless modal displacement for the second fundamental problem, w2 (x,y), is
∞
 
w2 (x̄, ȳ ) 1 nπ ȳ
= cos
b 4ω̄φ 2 2
n=1,3,5,···
  η  η  η 2 − ν n2 π 2     2 
n n n ξn ξn ξn − ν n 2 π 2
× Gn csch ch (1 − x̄ ) − csch ch (1 − x̄ )
2φ 2φ ηn 2φ 2φ ξn
     2     
ξn ξn ξn − ν n π 2 2
ηn ηn ηn − ν n π
2 2 2
+Hn csch ch x̄ − csch ch x̄ , (2.15)
2φ 2φ ξn 2φ 2φ ηn
 
where ξn = n2 π 2 + 4ω̄φ 2 and ηn = n2 π 2 − 4ω̄φ 2 .

3. Determination of natural frequencies and mode shapes

As depicted in Section 2, superposition of the two fundamental solutions, (2.8) and (2.15), yields the solution of a can-
tilever plate, which contains the undetermined coefficients of expansion. To determine the natural frequencies, a set of equa-
tions are formed by making the above superposition satisfy the real boundary conditions at each edge of the cantilever plate.
At the free edge y = 0 of the cantilever plate, the superposition of the fundamental solutions has satisfied the boundary
condition of zero equivalent shear force, Vy |y = 0 = 0. To satisfy another boundary condition that the bending moment My
be zero, we equate the superposition of the bending moments of the fundamental problems at y = 0 to zero, which yields,
after simplification,
√  √ √   √ √  ∞
32ν ω̄2 φ 4 (Gn − Hn )
ω̄ tan φ ω̄ − tanh φ ω̄ E0 − sec φ ω̄ + sech φ ω̄ F̄0 + = 0, (3.1)
n4 π 4 − 16ω̄2 φ 4
n=1,3,5,···

and
 2 2

εi tanh (φςi ) ςi 2 − ν i2 π 2 − ςi tanh (φεi ) εi 2 − ν i2 π 2 Ei
 
+ εi ςi sech(φςi ) ςi 2 − ν i2 π 2 − sech(φεi ) εi 2 − ν i2 π 2 F̄i
 
∞
16εi ςi ω̄φ 2 4ν ω̄2 φ 2 + i2 n2 π 4 (1 − ν )2
− 2
[Gn − cos (iπ )Hn ] = 0, (3.2)
n=1,3,5,··· 16ω̄2 φ 4 − π 4 n2 + 4i2 φ 2
  
for i = 1, 2, 3, , where F̄i = aFi /D, εi = i2 π 2 + ω̄, and ςi = i2 π 2 − ω̄.
 R. Li et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 53 (2018) 310–318 315

At the clamped edge y = b, the zero modal displacement boundary condition has been satisfied. To satisfy another
boundary condition that the slope θ be zero, we equate the superposition of the slopes of the fundamental problems at
y = b to zero, which yields
√  √ √   √ √ 
ω̄ sec φ ω̄ + sech φ ω̄ E0 − tan φ ω̄ + tanh φ ω̄ F̄0
∞  nπ  4νφ n3 π 3 √ω̄ G − H
( n n)
+ sin = 0, (3.3)
2 n4 π 4 − 16ω̄2 φ 4
n=1,3,5,···

and
 
sech(φεi ) εi 2 − ν i2 π 2 − sech(φςi ) ςi 2 − ν i2 π 2 Ei − [εi tanh (φεi ) − ςi tanh (φςi )]F̄i
∞  nπ  8nφ ω̄π 3 ν n2 + 4i2 φ 2
− sin [Gn − cos (iπ )Hn ] = 0 (3.4)
2 16ω̄2 φ 4 − π 4 n2 + 4i2 φ 2 2
n=1,3,5,···

for i = 1, 2, 3, .
At the free edge x = 0, the boundary condition that the bending moment Mx be zero requires
 
iπ
512ν ω̄3 φ 6 E0 − 64ν ω̄i3 π 3 φ 3 sin F̄0
2
   η         
ξi 2 ξ η 2 ξ η
+ ξi ηi csch ξi ηi 2 − ν i2 π 2 sh i ch i − ηi ξi 2 − ν i2 π 2 ch i sh i Gi
i
csch
2φ 2φ 2φ 2φ 2φ 2φ
 η   
2 2 ξi
− ξi ηi ξi ηi 2 − ν i2 π 2 csch − ηi ξi − ν i2 π 2 csch
i 2
Hi
2φ 2φ
   
∞
16ω̄φ 3 ξi ηi 2
2   iπ
− 2
8 φ 4 ν ω̄ φ
2 2
+ i n π
2 2 4
( 1 − ν )2
E n − 4 i π 3
ν i 2
+ 4 n φ
2 2
sin F̄n = 0
2
n=1,2,3,··· 16ω̄ φ − π i + 4n φ
2 4 4 2 2 2

(3.5)
 
for i = 1, 3, 5, , where ξi = i2 π 2 + 4ω̄φ 2 and ηi = i2 π 2 − 4ω̄φ 2 .
Similarly, at x = a, the boundary condition that Mx be zero requires
 
iπ
512ν ω̄3 φ 6 E0 − 64ν ω̄i3 π 3 φ 3 sin F̄0
2
 η   
2 2 ξ
+ ξi η i ξi ηi 2 − ν i2 π 2 csch i − ηi ξi 2 − ν i2 π 2 csch i Gi
2φ 2φ
   η         
ξi 2 ξ η 2 ξ η
− ξi ηi csch ξi ηi 2 − ν i2 π 2 sh i ch i − ηi ξi 2 − ν i2 π 2 ch i sh i Hi
i
csch
2φ 2φ 2φ 2φ 2φ 2φ
   
∞
16ω̄φ 3 ξi ηi 2 cos (nπ )
2   iπ
− 2
8 φ 4 ν ω̄ φ
2 2
+ i n π
2 2 4
( 1 − ν )2
E n − 4 i π 3
ν i 2
+ 4 n φ
2 2
sin F̄n = 0
2
n=1,2,3,··· 16ω̄ φ − π i + 4n φ
2 4 4 2 2 2

(3.6)
for i = 1, 3, 5, .
Eqs. (3.1)–(3.6) constitute a set of infinite linear equations with respect to Em , Fm , Gn , and Hn (m = 0, 1, 2, ; n = 1, 3, 5,
). The existence of nonzero solutions requires that the determinant of the coefficient matrix be zero, which leads to an
equation for determination of the natural frequencies. Noting that a finite number of equations are necessary for practical
calculation, any accuracy can be achieved by taking adequate series terms. For convenience, the same number of series
terms, denoted by N, are adopted throughout, i.e., E0 ,E1 ,E2 ,, EN , F0 ,F1 ,F2 ,, FN , G0 ,G1 ,G2 ,, GN , and H0 ,H1 ,H2 ,, HN are
taken into account. The mode shape corresponding to a natural frequency is obtained by first substituting the frequency
solution back into Eqs. (3.1)–(3.6), solving for a set of non-trivial solutions for Em , Fm , Gn , and Hn , substituting them into
Eqs. (2.8) and (2.15), and then their summation.

4. Benchmark numerical results and discussion

It is necessary to validate the above analytic solutions by giving some numerical results such that our solutions can be
used as benchmarks for future comparison. Actually, there is insufficient literature on the analytic free vibration solutions
of rectangular thin cantilever plates. The monograph by Leissa [1] has provided some useful results obtained by different
approximate/numerical methods. Among those we choose a series method to compare with ours because it has the best
316 R. Li et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 53 (2018) 310–318

Table 1 
Frequency parameters, ωa2 ρ h/D, of rectangular thin cantilever plates with the edge y = b clamped and the other edges free.

b/a References Modes

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th

0.5 Present 13.971 21.403 40.722 76.298 87.351 98.679 125.70 136.11 172.34 210.83
FEM 13.972 21.404 40.723 76.307 87.373 98.700 125.72 136.15 172.37 210.93
Leissa [1] 13.972 21.52 40.88 76 87.6 99.2 126 136.4 172.8 —
1 Present 3.4710 8.5062 21.284 27.199 30.954 54.183 61.253 64.142 70.961 92.927
FEM 3.4711 8.5064 21.289 27.203 30.959 54.193 61.297 64.174 71.003 92.963
Leissa [1] 3.472 8.55 21.29 27.2 31.1 54.3 61.3 64.2 71.1 —
1.5 Present 1.5348 5.1804 9.5401 17.477 23.796 27.383 35.650 37.920 53.148 59.493
FEM 1.5348 5.1804 9.5411 17.479 23.800 27.391 35.657 37.925 53.180 59.505
2 Present 0.85981 3.7003 5.3583 12.044 15.037 23.129 23.275 29.612 31.731 38.193
FEM 0.85992 3.7004 5.3586 12.044 15.040 23.131 23.279 29.621 31.736 38.203
Leissa [1] 0.861 3.71 5.37 12.1 15.03 23.2 23.3 29.6 — 38.3
2.5 Present 0.54848 2.8738 3.4233 9.1544 9.6194 16.948 18.854 22.993 27.009 28.211
FEM 0.54836 2.8738 3.4235 9.1546 9.6205 16.949 18.858 22.997 27.012 28.214
Leissa [1] 0.549 2.87 3.42 9.21 9.61 17.0 18.9 23.0 27.0 —
3 Present 0.37990 2.3484 2.3736 6.6686 7.3746 13.114 13.331 20.699 21.485 23.004
FEM 0.37982 2.3484 2.3736 6.6691 7.3747 13.116 13.332 20.700 21.490 23.008
3.5 Present 0.27852 1.7414 1.9854 4.8909 6.1729 9.6221 10.975 15.942 16.717 22.450
FEM 0.27860 1.7415 1.9854 4.8912 6.1729 9.6232 10.975 15.945 16.718 22.454
4 Present 0.21288 1.3317 1.7196 3.7388 5.3085 7.3550 9.3250 12.197 14.001 18.238
FEM 0.21357 1.3318 1.7196 3.7390 5.3086 7.3557 9.3252 12.199 14.001 18.242
Leissa [1] 0.213 1.33 1.72 3.73 5.34 7.36 9.36 12.20 14.05 —
4.5 Present 0.16796 1.0511 1.5166 2.9501 4.6574 5.8023 8.1073 9.6241 12.038 14.411
FEM 0.16721 1.0511 1.5166 2.9502 4.6574 5.8027 8.1074 9.6252 12.038 14.414
5 Present 0.13589 0.85061 1.3565 2.3867 4.1493 4.6932 7.1726 7.7845 10.557 11.661
FEM 0.13980 0.85113 1.3570 2.3871 4.1494 4.6935 7.1728 7.7853 10.558 11.663
Leissa [1] 0.135 0.85 1.35 2.39 4.16 4.70 7.19 7.79 10.60 —

Table 2 
Convergence of the analytic frequency solutions, ωa2 ρ h/D, for rectangular thin cantilever plates having b/a = 0.5 and 5, with the edge y = b clamped and
the other edges free.

b/a Number of series terms Modes

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th

0.5 10 13.968 21.402 40.724 76.298 87.351 98.679 125.71 136.11 172.34 210.82
20 13.970 21.402 40.722 76.299 87.349 98.675 125.70 136.11 172.35 210.83
30 13.971 21.403 40.721 76.298 87.349 98.676 125.70 136.11 172.34 210.83
50 13.971 21.403 40.721 76.298 87.350 98.677 125.70 136.11 172.34 210.83
100 13.971 21.404 40.722 76.298 87.351 98.679 125.70 136.11 172.34 210.83
5 10 0.13590 0.85073 1.3578 2.3873 4.1535 4.6949 7.1801 7.7880 10.570 11.668
20 0.13589 0.85062 1.3568 2.3868 4.1502 4.6934 7.1742 7.7851 10.560 11.662
30 0.13589 0.85061 1.3566 2.3868 4.1496 4.6932 7.1732 7.7847 10.558 11.661
50 0.13589 0.85061 1.3565 2.3867 4.1493 4.6932 7.1726 7.7845 10.557 11.661
100 0.13589 0.85061 1.3565 2.3867 4.1493 4.6932 7.1726 7.7845 10.557 11.661

accuracy in the monograph, as verified by our FEM, by which the convergent results are also tabulated to compare with all
our solutions to offer more solid validation.
Table 1 lists the first ten frequency parameter solutions for the rectangular thin cantilever plates with the Poisson’s ratio
0.3 under ten different side ratios, with b/a ranging from 0.5 to 5. That is, a hundred numerical frequency results are given
to furnish a comprehensive view of the accuracy of our analytic method. It is seen that the present solutions agree well with
[1]. However, the solutions by our analytic method are more accurate, which is confirmed by perfect agreement with FEM.
The series terms are taken to be 100 in our derivation. This is to guarantee the convergence of the five significant digits,
as shown in Table 1. As the extreme cases, we study the convergence of the plate with b/a = 0.5 and 5, respectively. As
tabulated in Table 2, with increasing N, the solutions converge fast, and tens of terms can achieve accurate enough results.
For FEM, ABAQUS software [31] has been used, where the thickness-to-width ratio of the plates h/a is 10 − 6 (i.e., taking
a = 1 and h = 10 − 6 ), with the plates’ mass density 106 , Young’s modulus 1.092 × 1019 , and Poisson’s ratio 0.3. S4R thin shell
element is chosen, and the mesh size is uniformly set to be 1/100a. Fig. 2 plots the first ten mode shape solutions, where
the coordinate system is in accordance with that in Fig. 1. Perfect agreement with FEM is observed. The accurate enough
solutions presented here are expected to serve as the benchmarks for validation of various approximate/numerical methods.
It should be noted that the present method is suitable for the conservative problems. If the damping exists, the method
is not applicable, and certain weak artificial dissipative numerical methods could be employed, such as the generalized
 R. Li et al. / Applied Mathematical Modelling 53 (2018) 310–318 317

Present

FEM

Mode 1 Mode 2 Mode 3 Mode 4 Mode 5

Present

FEM

Mode 6 Mode 7 Mode 8 Mode 9 Mode 10

Fig. 2. First ten mode shapes of a square thin cantilever plate with the edge y = b (b = a) clamped and the other edges free.

multi-symplectic method [32,33], which has been proved to be a robust structure-preserving method for the damping
infinite dimensional dynamic problems [34–38].

5. Conclusion

Analytic free vibration solutions of rectangular thin cantilever plates are obtained using the symplectic superposition
method. The solution procedure involves leading the governing equations to the Hamiltonian system, solving the funda-
mental problems in the symplectic space via separation of variables and symplectic eigen expansion, and superposing the
fundamental solutions to yield the final analytic solutions. The advantage of the developed method is its rationality without
predetermining the solution forms. This enables more analytic solutions of some difficult problems to be explored, which
cannot be obtained by the classical methods. The comprehensive numerical results are tabulated and plotted to provide the
benchmarks which are useful for validation of other methods. Ongoing work is on some more complex problems such as
those for anisotropic monolayer plates and laminated composites.

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant
no. 11302038) and National Basic Research Program of China (grant no. 2014CB046506). R.L. gratefully acknowledges
the supports from the Young Elite Scientist Sponsorship Program by CAST (No. 2015QNRC003) and Young Science and
Technology Star Program of Dalian.

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