Frequency dependent exact trial functions in Galerkin boundary method for free vibration analysis of thin plate

Method of frequency dependent exact trial functions for thin plate vibration based on fundamental solutions of Voigt is suggested. Contrary to other methods, where one of the functions is chosen as the scale and specific boundary condition dependent, it employs only the frequency dependent functions for both space coordinates. Thus they are scale independent, so the same functions can be used for different boundary conditions and plate dimensions. General rule for the choice of exact trial functions is formulated. The boundary conditions are satisfied according to the Galerkin boundary method, which actually minimizes the energy residuals with respect to each weight function (fundamental solution).

The verification of method is performed on examples of rectangular plate with various boundary conditions. Several arbitrarily chosen sets of trial functions were employed in calculation of the same tasks, and it is shown that accuracy of the method is almost independent from the choice of them. Even the small number of trial functions provides the very accurate results for natural frequencies.