An efficient plate element for the vibration of composite plates

• A plate bending element is presented for the vibration of composite plates.
• The element can represent fourth order displacement and cubic rotations.
• The hierarchical orders of deflection, rotation, moment and shear are preserved.
• Rotary inertia effects in lumped mass matrix improves thick plate results.
• The element performs better than standard elements, requiring less computation time.

An element is presented for the free vibration analysis of composite plates. The element is capable of representing high orders of displacement using very few degrees of freedom. Hierarchy in the orders of deflection, rotation, moment and shear has been preserved in the element through scrupulous choice of field variables. The effect of rotary inertia has been considered through an innovative scheme for inclusion into mass lumping procedures. Performance of the element has been tested in a wide range of problems which indicate that free vibration analysis of plates with the help of the present element can reach a high level of accuracy at reduced computation cost, compared to standard elements in literature.