In-Plane Free Vibrations of Single-Layer and Symmetrically Laminated Rectangular Composite Plates

This work presents accurate upper-bound solutions for free in-plane vibrations of single-layer and symmetrically laminated rectangular composite plates with an arbitrary combination of clamped and free boundary conditions. In-plane natural frequencies and modes shapes are calculated by the Ritz method with a simple, stable and computationally efficient set of trigonometric functions. Reliability of the method is assessed by comparison with known accurate solutions for isotropic plates and specially orthotropic single laminates. The extensive results presented here for the first time can be considered benchmark data against which other methods may be compared and validated in the future. Influence of fiber orientation, stacking sequence, degree of orthotropy, aspect ratio and boundary conditions upon the in-plane vibration behavior are also discussed.