Experimental and Analytical Study of the Frequencies of an S-C-S-C Plate Carrying a Concentrated Mass

The present work is concerned with the determination of the fundamental frequencies of a simply supported-clamped-simply supported-clamped (SCSC) plate carrying a concentrated mass. An energy method based on the Rayleigh’s approach has been developed to obtain approximate closed-form solutions. A finite element analysis is also presented for comparison. Extensive experimental investigation through a shaker system was conducted to collect useful test data. The comparison of experimental results with theoretical predictions of the energy method shows favorable correlations. In the parametric study, the effect of various sizes of the concentrated mass, and the effect of the variation in the plate geometry and material properties on the fundamental frequencies of the plate are presented.