Vibration analysis of non-homogeneous circular plate of nonlinear thickness variation by differential quadrature method

Free axisymmetric vibrations of non-homogeneous isotropic circular plates of nonlinear thickness variation have been analyzed on the basis of classical plate theory employing the differential quadrature (DQ) method. The non-homogeneity is assumed to arise due to the variation in Young's modulus and also the density of the plate material. The first three natural frequencies have been obtained for clamped, simply supported and free edge conditions, taking grid points as zeros of Chebyshev polynomials. The effect of non-homogeneity and thickness variation on natural frequencies of vibration has been investigated for the first three modes of vibration. The results for linear as well as parabolic thickness variations have been obtained as special cases. Comparison studies have been carried out to establish the accuracy and versatility of the present DQ method.