A GENERAL ANALYTICAL SOLUTION OF FREE VIBRATION OF ORTHOTROPIC RECTANGULAR THIN PLATES

A general solution of the differential equation for transverse displacement function of orthotropic rectangular thin plates in free vibration is presented in this paper. It can be used to solve free vibration problem of rectangular plates with arbitrary boundaries. As an example, the frequencies of a composite laminated cantilever plate are calculated. The analytical predictions are in fair agreement with experimental results.