Abstract
A rational and straightforward method is introduced for developing continuum models of large platelike periodic lattice structures based on energy equivalence. The procedure for developing continuum plate models involves the use of existing well-defined finite element matrices for the easy calculation of strain and kinetic energies of a repeating cell, from which the reduced stiffness and mass matrices are obtained in terms of continuum degrees-of-freedom defined in this paper. The equivalent continuum plate properties are obtained from the direct comparison of the reduced matrices for continuum plate with those for lattice plate. Free vibration analyses for the continuum and lattice plates are conducted to evaluate the continuum method proposed in this paper. Numerical results show that the present continuum method gives very reliable structural and dynamic properties compared to other well-recognized methods.
