Frequency response of rectangular plates with free-edge openings and carlings subjected to point excitation force and enforced displacement at boundaries

In this paper, a numerical procedure for the natural vibration analysis of plates with openings and carlings based on the assumed mode method is extended to assess their forced response. Firstly, natural response of plates with openings and carlings is calculated from the eigenvalue equation derived by using Lagrange's equation of motion. Secondly, the mode superposition method is applied to determine frequency response. Mindlin theory is adopted for plate modelling and the effect of openings is taken into account by subtracting their potential and kinetic energies from the corresponding plate energies. Natural and frequency response of plates with openings and carlings subjected to point excitation force and enforced acceleration at boundaries, respectively, is analysed by using developed in-house code. For the validation of the developed method and the code, extensive numerical results, related to plates with different opening shape, carlings and boundary conditions, are compared with numerical data from the relevant literature and with finite element solutions obtained by general finite element tool.