New exact solutions for free vibrations of rectangular thin plates by symplectic dual method

The separation of variables is employed to solve Hamiltonian dual form of eigenvalue problem for transverse free vibrations of thin plates, and formulation of the natural mode in closed form is performed. The closed-form natural mode satisfies the governing equation of the eigenvalue problem of thin plate exactly and is applicable for any types of boundary conditions. With all combinations of simply-supported (S) and clamped (C) boundary conditions applied to the natural mode, the mode shapes are obtained uniquely and two eigenvalue equations are derived with respect to two spatial coordinates, with the aid of which the normal modes and frequencies are solved exactly. It was believed that the exact eigensolutions for cases SSCC, SCCC and CCCC were unable to be obtained, however, they are successfully found in this paper. Comparisons between the present results and the FEM results validate the present exact solutions, which can thus be taken as the benchmark for verifying different approximate approaches.