Applied Acoustics, Vol. 54, No. 3, pp.

207±228, 1998
# 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
Printed in Great Britain
PII: S0003-682X(97)00094-7 0003-682X/98 $19.00+0.00

Closed-form Fundamental-frequency Estimates for Polar

Orthotropic Circular Plates

F. C. Mbakogua and M. N. PavlovicÂb*

a
Allied Tropical Consultants Ltd, 5 Akinola Cole Crescent, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria
b
Department of Civil Engineering, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine,
London SW7 2BU, UK

(Received 24 June 1997; accepted 24 October 1997)

ABSTRACT

This paper provides simple, yet accurate, estimates of the fundamental

natural frequencies of vibration of simply supported and clamped polar
orthotropic circular plates with and without internal (central) point sup-
ports. Such estimates are obtained by means of Rayleigh's method coupled
with the de¯ection functions for the corresponding statically loaded systems.
As will be seen, the present formulation, which generalizes an earlier work
dealing with plates composed of isotropic materials, yields compact, closed-
form expressions, enabling the ready calculation of (approximate) natural
frequencies for arbitrary values of the elastic constants. Furthermore,
remarkable simpli®cations in the derivations for, and form of, some of these
expressions are achieved through the application of a computerized sym-
bolic algebra system. # 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Keywords: Circular plates, polar orthotropy, Rayleigh method, funda-

mental frequency, symbolic manipulation.

NOMENCLATURE

a plate radius
D ¯exural rigidity corresponding to an isotropic material (see
eqn (7))
Dr ; D ¯exural rigidities with respect to the radial and circumfer-
ential directions, respectively (see eqn (2))

*To whom correspondence should be addressed.

207
208 F. C. Mbakogu, M. N. PavlovicÂ

E Young's modulus corresponding to an isotropic material

Er ; E Young's moduli with respect to the radial and circumfer-
ential directions, respectively
k orthotropy coecient de®ned by eqn (3)
m mass of plate per unit surface area
P centrally applied point load
q uniformly distributed load per unit surface area of plate
…r; † polar co-ordinates of a point
t plate thickness
Ti(i=1,6) coecients de®ned by eqns (25)±(27) (or equivalently, eqns
(28)±(30)) and eqns (39)±(41) (or, alternatively, eqns (42)±(44))
w (statical) transverse de¯ection function
wp (statical) transverse de¯ection function corresponding to
centrally-applied point loading
 Poisson's ratio corresponding to an isotropic material
r Poisson's ratio characterizing the transverse compression in
the circumferential direction due to tension in the radial
direction
 Poisson's ratio characterizing the transverse compression in
the radial direction owing to tension in the circumferential
direction
! natural circular frequency

non-dimensional frequency parameter (see eqn (11))

INTRODUCTION

Circular plates with and without internal point supports are important
structural elements which ®nd application in several branches of technology.
In civil engineering construction, for instance, they are often used as ¯oor
slabs in buildings; and, in such applications, the plates may be subjected to
dynamic loads, as in the case of a suspended ¯oor slab submitted to dynamic
excitation resulting from the synchronous vertical jumping, at high intensity,
associated with some dance fashions.1,2 (Another structural engineering
example is provided by o€shore platforms subjected to dynamic excitation.)
The prediction of the probable dynamic response of suspended ¯oors is
often achieved on the basis of the fundamental (i.e. lowest) natural fre-
quencies of vibration of such ¯oors, at least for purposes of preliminary
design.1,3,4 Now, whereas the natural response of circular plates has been the
subject of a considerable number of investigations, the majority of these deal
with problems involving plates supported only at the edges (i.e. those without
internal point supports) and endowed with isotropic material properties.5±9
 Closed-form fundamental-frequency estimates for polar orthotropic circular plates 209

Furthermore, classical solutions to the free-vibration problem of circular

plates generally result in the reduction of the governing equations of plate
vibrations, expressed in terms of polar co-ordinates, to frequency equations,
the roots of which de®ne the eigenvalues (or non-dimensional frequency
parameters) of free vibration; these, however, are not amenable to straight-
forward computations.5,6,10
As shown in Ref. 11, quick and reliable estimates of the fundamental fre-
quencies of vibration of both simply supported and clamped isotropic cir-
cular plates with and without internal (in fact, central) point supports may
be obtained through the use of the Rayleigh method coupled with readily
available or derivable statical de¯ection functions. Indeed, the technique
yields closed-form expressions, thus permitting the determination of funda-
mental frequencies to be achieved by means of trivial calculations which, in
the two cases involving plates with simply supported edges, also encompass
the e€ect of arbitrary values of Poisson's ratio. This, of course, is an addi-
tional advantage of the explicit Rayleigh-quotient technique when compared
with the corresponding ``exact'' solution schemes based on the (cumbersome)
use of Bessel functions, since the frequency equations resulting from the lat-
ter must be formally solved (implying, in the aforementioned case of simple
supports, consideration of only one speci®c value of Poisson's ratio at a
time). It is the object of the present paper to extend the above Rayleigh-
based approach so as to encompass axially symmetric circular plates com-
posed of materials exhibiting polar orthotropy. (Such materials, which have
three mutually orthogonal planes of elastic symmetry at each point, are also
variously described in the literature as ``cylindrically orthotropic'',12±14
``cylindrically aeolotropic'',15±17 ``orthotropic with cylindrical anisotropy'',18
or, simply, ``orthotropic''.19,20) The practical application of the ensuing for-
mulation might lie in design problems involving circular plates composed of
some cuts of wood, which are naturally endowed with the present kind of
material orthotropy, as well as in those associated with (circular) concrete
slabs constructed with di€erent amounts of reinforcing steel in the radial
and circumferential directions, or, alternatively, in steel decks with
``orthotropically'' located ribs or sti€eners. ( Clearly, such instances cover
some of the more obvious applications in the ®eld of civil engineering, but
one could easily list many other relevant problems in mechanical or aero-
nautical engineering.) It will be seen that, in analogy with the simpler case
of material isotropy,11 the present approach results in compact, closed-
form expressions which enable the ready calculation of fundamental fre-
quencies for arbitrary values of the elastic constants. Moreover, the deri-
vations for, and ®nal form of, some of these expressions are very
considerably simpli®ed through the application of a computerized sym-
bolic algebra system.
210 F. C. Mbakogu, M. N. PavlovicÂ

ANALYTICAL FORMULATION

As is well known, Rayleigh's method furnishes a simple means of estimating

the fundamental frequencies of vibration of structural systems. For a con-
servative vibrating system, the method is essentially a statement of the
equivalence of the maximum potential and kinetic energies, both of which
may be determined on the basis of assumed shape functions that satisfy the
geometrical boundary conditions and also approximate the actual mode of
vibration. In the present scheme, the de¯ection function corresponding to the
associated statical (i.e. plate bending) problem is taken as the shape function
approximating the vibrational mode. Clearly, this implies the satisfaction of
the geometrical boundary conditions for the problem, in ful®lment of a key
requirement of the Rayleigh approach. As would be expected, the approx-
imate natural frequencies obtained by means of the present method will
always exceed their ``exact'' counterparts, thereby providing upper bounds for
the natural frequencies of a plate, since the assumption of a modal shape ab
initio amounts, in e€ect, to a sti€ening of the plate.21±24
For free ¯exural vibrations of an axially symmetic polar-orthotropic cir-
cular plate of uniform thickness the Rayleigh quotient formula can be
expressed in polar …r; † co-ordinates (with  absent, by reason of the rota-
tional symmetry implied) in the following form:
   2  
„a d2 w
2
d w 1 dw
ÿ1 dw
2
Dr dr2 ‡…r D ‡  Dr † dr2 r dr ‡ D r dr r d r
2 10
! ˆ …1†
m „a
w2 r d r
0

in which ! represents the (unknown) natural circular frequency of a plate of

radius a, while the symbols m ˆconstant and w ˆ w…r† denote the mass of
the plate per unit area and the (statical) de¯ection function, respectively.
Further, r denotes the ratio of Poisson characterizing the transverse
compression in the circumferential direction due to tension in the radial
direction,  represents the Poisson's ratio which characterizes the transverse
compression in the radial direction owing to tension in the circumferential
direction, while Dr and D denote the ¯exural rigidities with respect to the
radial and circumferential directions, respectively; the latter are de®ned in
terms of the Young's moduli Er (in the radial direction) and E (in the
circumferential direction) and the (uniform) thickness of the plate …t† as
follows:

Er t3 E t3
Dr ˆ ; D ˆ …2†
12…1 ÿ r  † 12…1 ÿ r  †
 Closed-form fundamental-frequency estimates for polar orthotropic circular plates 211

The above elastic constants are connected to the so-called orthotropy coe-
cient25 (or rigidity ratio26) k, through the following relations:18

D E 
ˆ ˆ ˆ k2 …3†
Dr Er r

and it is useful to note that

r D ‡  Dr ˆ 2 Dr ˆ 2r D …4†

For practical purposes, it is also convenient to note that, in the case of

plates with clamped edges, one ®nds (c.f. Ref. 27):
…a
d2 w dw
drˆ0 …5†
dr2 dr
0

so that eqn (1) reduces to the following form:

„a h ÿd2 w
2 2
i
Dr 2 ‡D …1r dw † rdr
1 dr dr

!2 ˆ 0 …6†
m „a
w2 r d r
0

In the special case of isotropic materials:

Et3
vr ˆ v ˆ v; Er ˆ E ˆ E; Dr ˆ D ˆ D ˆ …7†
12…1 ÿ 2 †

where E, , D de®ne the Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio and ¯exural

rigidity, respectively; note that, for such materials, the orthotropy coecient
becomes k ˆ 1, as can be seen by inspection of relations (3) in the light of
expressions (7). On the basis of the above relations (7), one can easily show
that eqn (1) reduces, as would be expected (see Ref. 11), to the following form
 
„a d2 w 2
1 dw 2

dr2
‡ r dr ÿ2…1 ÿ † ddrw2 1r dw
drrdr
D
! ˆ 0
2
…8†
m „a
w2 r dr
0
212 F. C. Mbakogu, M. N. PavlovicÂ

which, in the case of (isotropic) plates with clamped edges, becomes

„ad2 w 2
dr2
‡ 1r dw
dr r d r
D0
!2 ˆ …9†
m „a
w2 r dr
0

(The latter expression (9) also follows directly from eqn (6), when relations
(5) and (7) apply.)
Clearly, the foregoing eqn (1) (or, where appropriate, its specialized ver-
sion (6)) should enable the ready computation of the lowest natural fre-
quencies of vibrating axially symmetric polar-orthotropic circular plates,
subject, of course, to the proviso that suitable statical de¯ection functions
(specifying w) are available or derivable. In what follows, the simplicity and
good predictive capability of the proposed formulation, which is a general-
ization of previous work11 dealing with circular plates composed of isotropic
materials, will be demonstrated.

Case 1: Circular plate clamped along its edge

The de¯ected shape of the plate under the action of a uniformly distributed
load per unit surface area q is given by18
" ÿ
1‡k ÿ
4 #
qa4 3 ÿ k ÿ 4 ar ‡…1 ‡ k† ar
wˆ ; k 6ˆ 3 …10†
8Dr …9 ÿ k2 †…1 ‡ k†

On substituting the above expression (10) into eqn (6) (which, of course, is
the specialized version of eqn (1)), and performing the necessary integrations
and simpli®cations (with due account taken of relations (3)), one obtains the
following expression for the required natural circular frequency
r

Dr
!ˆ 2 …11†
a m

in which the symbol

denotes a non-dimensional frequency parameter
de®ned thus:
r
10…7 ‡ k†…3 ‡ k†…2 ‡ k†

ˆ …12†
8‡k
 Closed-form fundamental-frequency estimates for polar orthotropic circular plates 213

Evidently, the above expression (12) permits the ready calculation of the
non-dimensional frequency parameter
(and, hence, also, the associated
lowest circular frequency ! of eqn (11)) for arbitrary (physical meaningfulÐ
i.e. k cannot be negative) values of the orthotropy coecient k. This is
somewhat surprising in view of the fact that the de¯ection function de®ned
by eqn (10), on which the foregoing formulation is based, does not bear the
character of absolute generality, since it cannot be applied to plates
composed of materials for which k ˆ 3. For the latter class of materials, the
frequency
p  parameter de®ned by eqn (12) corresponds to
ˆ
3;000=11… 16:5145†. The above result (for materials with k ˆ 3) can
formally be veri®ed through the use of the appropriate de¯ection function
corresponding speci®cally to such materials. This de¯ection function may
be obtained by evaluating the limiting value of the function de®ned by eqn
(10). Thus, we have
" ÿ
1‡k ÿ
4 #
qa4 3 ÿ k ÿ 4 ar ‡…1 ‡ k† ar
wˆ Limk7!3 …13†
8Dr …9 ÿ k2 †…1 ‡ k†

which, with the aid of L'HoÃspital's rules, results in the following expression
for w:
q  4 r
wˆ a ÿ r4 ‡ 4r4 ln …14†
192Dr a

on the basis of which the earlier result (i.e. the frequency eqn (11) with
p

ˆ 3;000=11) can easily be con®rmed.

In the special case of material isotropy (for which relations (7) hold true,
and k ˆ 1), the present formulation corresponds, as would be expected, to
that given in Ref. 11; in p
particular,
 the frequency parameter (de®ned by eqn
(12)) now becomes
ˆ 320=3… 10:328† (note that, in the present context,
Dr ˆ D in eqn (11)).
A comparison of the values of the frequency parameter
obtained by
means of the general expression (12) and the well-known truncated (and
hence approximateÐbut very accurate (see below)) series solution due to
Akasaka and Takagishi28 (and summarized in Ref. 5), for a range of values
of the orthotropy coecient k, is presented in Table 1. (Note that, for ease of
comparison, the two sets of results are rounded o€ to the same number of
signi®cant ®gures.) As can be seen, the maximum percentage di€erence
between the two sets of (quoted) results is of the order of 1%, with the pre-
sent formulation providing the higher
value in each case. (To illustrate the
excellent predictive capability of the benchmark solution,28 we may note that
214 F. C. Mbakogu, M. N. PavlovicÂ

TABLE 1
Circular Plate Clamped Along its Edge. Calculated Values of the Frequency Parameter (
)
for Various Values of the Orthotropy Coecient (k) and Comparison with the Benchmark
(approximate) Series Solution28
Frequency parameter (
)
Difference (%)
Orthotropy coecient (k) Present work Series solution28
0.2 7.8622 7.7721 1.16
0.4 8.4785 8.3847 1.12
0.6 9.0948 8.9975 1.08
0.8 9.7113 9.6107 1.05
1.0 10.3280 10.2244 1.01
1.2 10.9449 10.8385 0.98
1.4 11.5622 11.4532 0.95
1.6 12.1799 12.0684 0.92
1.8 12.7980 12.6842 0.90
2.0 13.4164 13.3005 0.87
2.2 14.0352 13.9174 0.85
2.4 14.6545 14.5348 0.82
2.6 15.2741 15.1527 0.80
2.8 15.8941 15.7712 0.78
3.0 16.5145 16.3902 0.76

for k ˆ 1 (material isotropy) the

value of 10.2244 predicted by the latter is
negligibly di€erent from the corresponding ``exact'' value of
ˆ 10:2158,5
the error being less than 0.1%.) Further, as can be seen by inspection of
Table 1 (see also Fig. 1, which indicates a linear relationship between
and
k), the frequency parameter
corresponding to the present solution, like its
counterpart for the series solution of Ref. 28, increases as k increases. Such a
trend not only accords with intuition,5,29 but has also been formally
proved;13 and it reinforces the conclusion, drawn by some earlier wri-
ters,5,13,29 that certain previous solutions to the problem in hand,14,19,30
which exhibit the opposite trend (i.e.
decreasing with k), are questionable.

Case 2: Circular plate clamped along its edge and having a point support at
its centre

For the present problem, it is necessary to derive the displacement function

describing the de¯ected shape of the plate. (Henceforth , the term ``point
support'' is used to denote a constraint of zero de¯ection, as may be deemed
to (approximately) apply, for example, in a column-supported ¯oor
slab.31,32) The de¯ection function for the actual problem (for which w ˆ 0 at
r ˆ 0) may be split into two parts (c.f. Refs 11 and 32): (a) that of the edge-
supported plate under a uniformly distributed load (per unit area) q, and (b)
 Closed-form fundamental-frequency estimates for polar orthotropic circular plates 215

Fig. 1. Variation of (estimated) frequency parameter (

) with orthotropy coecient (k) for a
clamped plate with and without an internal (central) point support.

that of the edge-supported plate under a point load P acting at the centre
(and opposing q). The continuity requirement at the centre of the plate is
then met by computing the magnitude of the force necessary to cancel out
the de¯ection produced at this point by the loading q.
The de¯ected shape of a circular plate clamped along its edge and sub-
jected to the uniform load q was given in Case 1 (see eqn (10)), while that for
a centrally applied point load P is18
" ÿ
1‡k ÿ
2 #
Pa2 1 ÿ k ÿ 2 ar ‡…1 ‡ k† ar
wP ˆ ; k 6ˆ 1 …15†
4Dr …1 ÿ k2 †…1 ‡ k†

The imposition of the compatibility condition at r ˆ 0, such that the total

de¯ection w is zero at this point, leads to the following result:
216 F. C. Mbakogu, M. N. PavlovicÂ
 
qa2 1 ‡ k
Pˆ …16†
2 3‡k
which, as it turns out, is apparently applicable to all (practical) values of k,
even though the de¯ection functions (10) and (15) from which it is derived
are not. (For the special case corresponding to material isotropy …k ˆ 1†, the
above eqn (16) reduces to the form given in Refs 11 and 32.) Thus, the
de¯ected shape w for the actual problem of the clamped plate with an addi-
tional central point support becomes
" ÿ
1‡k ÿ
4 ÿ
2 #
qa4 2…1 ‡ k† ar ‡…1 ÿ k2 † ar ÿ…1 ‡ k†…3 ÿ k† ar
wˆ ; k 6ˆ 1; 3 …17†
8Dr …9 ÿ k2 †…1 ÿ k2 †

As for Case 1, we now substitute the above eqn (17) into expression (6);
this results in the generic expression (11) for the natural frequency, in which
the frequency parameter
is now given by
r
40…7 ‡ k†…5 ‡ k†…2 ‡ k†

ˆ …18†
10 ‡ k

From the foregoing it would appear that the present formulation permits
the ready calculation of the circular frequencies (through eqns (11) and (18))
for arbitrary (physically meaningful) values of the orthotropy coecient k,
despite the fact that the de¯ection formula (17), on which it is based, does
not apply to materials for which k ˆ 1 and k ˆ 3. In the case of isotropic
p
materials …k ˆ 1†, eqn (18) yields
ˆ 5;760=11… 22:8831†, while for
materials characterized by k ˆ 3, the corresponding result is
p

ˆ 16;000=13… 35:0823†.
Clearly, the above results for materials characterized by k ˆ 1 and k ˆ 3
can formally be veri®ed through the use of the appropriate de¯ected shapes
corresponding to each of these materials; and, where necessary, these de¯ec-
ted shapes may be found by evaluating the limiting values of the relevant
de¯ection functions with the aid of L'HoÃspital's rules. For reasons of brev-
ity, only the limiting values corresponding to the de¯ection function (17) (i.e.
for the actual plate with both edge and (central) point supports) will be
considered here. Thus, for isotropic materials, we have to evaluate (noting
that Dr ˆ D)
" ÿ
1‡k ÿ
4 ÿ
2 #
qa4 2…1 ‡ k† ar ‡…1 ÿ k2 † ar ÿ…1 ‡ k†…3 ÿ k† ar
wˆ Limk!1 …19†
8Dr …9 ÿ k2 †…1 ÿ k2 †
 Closed-form fundamental-frequency estimates for polar orthotropic circular plates 217

which results in
q 4 r
wˆ r ÿ a2 r2 ÿ 2a2 r2 ln …20†
64D a
while, for materials with k ˆ 3, the problem is posed as
" ÿ
1‡k ÿ
4 ÿ
2 #
qa4 2…1 ‡ k† ar ‡…1 ÿ k2 † ar ÿ…1 ‡ k†…3 ÿ k† ar
wˆ Limk!3 …21†
8Dr …9 ÿ k2 †…1 ÿ k2 †

the solution of which is

q  2 2 r
wˆ a r ÿ r4 ‡ 2r4 ln …22†
96Dr a
The foregoing results for the natural frequencies relating to plates composed
of materials with k ˆ 1 and k ˆ 3 can readily be veri®ed on the basis of the
above de¯ection functions (20) (for materials with k ˆ 1) and (22) (for
materials having k ˆ 3); we note, in particular, that, as would be expected,
the results pertaining to the case of material isotropy correspond precisely to
those outlined in Ref. 11.
The variation of the frequency parameter
with the orthotropy coecient
k, for a range of values of the latter, is displayed graphically in Fig. 1 (note
the apparently linear relationship between
and k, as for Case 1). The very
considerable sti€ening e€ect of the point support is evident through a com-
parison of the frequency parameters corresponding to the present problem
with their counterparts for the preceding case of the plate having only edge
support. Finally, it is worth pointing out that, as far as we are aware, the
only ``exact'' solution to the present problem (due to Sakharov,33 and sum-
marized in Ref. 5) corresponds to the special case of material isotropy
…k ˆ 1†: this gives a value of
ˆ 22:7, which, as noted in Refs 11 and 32, is
p
negligibly di€erent from its counterpart
ˆ 5;760=11 (&22.8831)
obtained by means of the present method, the error being less than 1%.

Case 3: Circular plate simply supported along its edge

The de¯ection function w for the simply supported plate submitted to the
uniform pressure q is given by18
 
qa4 …3 ÿ k†…4 ‡ k ‡  † 4…3 ‡  †  r 1‡k  r 4
wˆ ÿ ‡ ; k 6ˆ 3
8…9 ÿ k2 †Dr …1 ‡ k†…k ‡  † …1 ‡ k†…k ‡  † a a
…23†
218 F. C. Mbakogu, M. N. PavlovicÂ

When the above expression (23) is substituted into the fundamental relation
(1), eqn (11) for the natural frequency is, again, obtained, but with the non-
dimensional frequency parameter now given by

s
10…6 ‡ k ‡  †…3 ÿ k†2 …1 ‡ k†2 …k ‡  †…7 ‡ k†…3 ‡ k†…2 ‡ k†

ˆ ; k 6ˆ 3
T1 ‡ T2
 ‡ T3
2
…24†

where

T1 ˆ 1;890 ‡ 3;510k ‡ 1;062k2 ÿ 835k3 ÿ 254k4 ‡ 36k5 ‡ 14k6 ‡ k7 …25†

T2 ˆ 2…360 ‡ 597k ‡ 85k2 ÿ 174k3 ÿ 14k4 ‡ 9k5 ‡ k6 † …26†

T3 ˆ 72 ‡ 105k ÿ 4k2 ÿ 34k3 ‡ 4k4 ‡ k5 …27†

As it turns out, the above expression (24) can considerably be simpli®ed

through the use of computerized symbolic algebra techniques.34±36 One such
system, MATHEMATICA,37 could be used to achieve the factorizaton of
the polynomial expressions (25)±(27) de®ning T1 , T2 and T3 . (Actually, the
motivation for employing computer algebra techniques here was the desire to
factorize the polynomial expression (25), which could not be factorized
manually, unlike the associated expressions (26) and (27).) Such an exercise
results in the following relations:

T1 ˆ …3 ÿ k†2 …1 ‡ k†2 …210 ‡ 110k ‡ 18k2 ‡ k3 † …28†

T2 ˆ 2…3 ÿ k†2 …1 ‡ k†2 …8 ‡ k†…5 ‡ k† …29†

T3 ˆ …3 ÿ k†2 …1 ‡ k†2 …8 ‡ k† …30†

which can now be substituted for the original de®nitions (25)±(27) for the
quantities T1 , T2 and T3 in eqn (24); this leads to
 Closed-form fundamental-frequency estimates for polar orthotropic circular plates 219
s
10…6 ‡ k ‡  †…k ‡  †…7 ‡ k†…3 ‡ k†…2 ‡ k†

ˆ …31†
210 ‡ 110k ‡ 18k2 ‡ k3 ‡ …8 ‡ k†‰2…5 ‡ k† ‡ 2 Š

Evidently, the above expression (31) de®ning

is not only simpler than
the earlier formula (24), but also applies (in marked contrast to the latter) to
all (practical) values of k, notwithstanding the fact that it has been derived
from the de¯ection function (23) which is not applicable to materials having
k ˆ 3. For the latter class of materials, eqn (31) reduces to the following
form (through straightforward substitution of k ˆ 3 into the above equation)
s
3;000…9 ‡  †…3 ‡  †

ˆ …32†
112 ‡ 176 ‡ 729

The above result for materials having k ˆ 3 can formally be veri®ed through
the use of the appropriate de¯ection function corresponding speci®cally to
such materials. Once again, this may be achieved by evaluating the limiting
value of the de¯ection function (23) as k tends to 3; on the basis of the
resulting expression
 
q 7 ‡  4 4 4 r
wˆ …a ÿ r † ‡ 4r ln …33†
192Dr 3 ‡  a

the foregoing relation (32) can easily be con®rmed. (It may be worth noting
that expression (32) can also be veri®ed by evaluating the limiting value of
expression (24), in which T1 , T2 and T3 are de®ned by relations (25)±(27), as
k ! 3.)
The special case of material isotropy is simply attained by setting k ˆ 1 in
the above formulation (noting, also, that relations (7) hold true); in parti-
cular, eqn (31) now reduces, as would be expected (see Ref. 11), to the fol-
lowing form:
r
320…7 ‡ †…1 ‡ †

ˆ …34†
32 ‡ 36 ‡ 113

A comparison of the values of the frequency parameter

obtained by
means of the general eqn (31) and their counterparts derived from the
(approximate) series solution presented by Minkarah and Hoppmann,17 for
several sets of assumed values of the elastic constants considered in the latter
220 F. C. Mbakogu, M. N. PavlovicÂ

work, is shown in Table 2 (to facilitate comparison, the two sets of results are
rounded o€ to the same number of signi®cant ®gures). As can be seen, the
two solutions agree very closely with each other, the maximum di€erence
between corresponding values being of the order of one-third of a per cent.
Moreover, with the exception of one set of the quoted results (corresponding
to k ˆ 0:25,  ˆ 0:22), for which the two methods practically yield the same
result, with the value predicted by the present formulation being very mar-
ginally lower (perhaps due to the approximations arising from the truncation
of the in®nite series used in solving the frequency equation pertaining to the
benchmark solution17), the present approach leads to slightly higher

values, as would be expected. It should be noted, however, that, whereas the

solution given in Ref. 17 (see also Ref. 5) has as its end product a frequency
equation which must be formally evaluated for a speci®c set of elastic con-
stants, the present method leads to the closed-form expression (31) permit-
ting the determination of
to be achieved, in any given case as regards
material constants, by means of trivial calculations (c.f. Ref. 11).
It is instructive to study the variation of
, de®ned by eqn (31), with k.
This is illustrated, for a material having a Poisson's ratio  ˆ 0:30, in Fig. 2,
for a range of k values. We ®nd that, as is to be physically expected,20

increases as k increases; it will, of course, be recalled that a similar pattern of

behaviour was observed in the case of the corresponding plate with clamped
edge (refer to Fig. 1 and Table 1). Finally, it is worth noting that, in sharp
contrast to the corresponding problem of the plate with clamped edge, the
frequency parameter
now depends not only on k, but also on the Poisson's
ratio  . This outcome stems from the presence of  in both expression (23),
specifying the de¯ection function for the plate, and the general Rayleigh

TABLE 2
Circular Plate Simply Supported Along its Edge. Calculated Values of the Frequency Parameter
(
) for Various Combinations of Material Properties and Comparison with the Benchmark
(approximate) Series Solution17
Material properties
k  Present work Series solution17 Difference (%)
0.25 0.22 2.499 2.500 0.04
0.50 0.40 3.635 3.629 0.17
0.50 0.30 3.459 3.452 0.20
0.75 0.70 4.781 4.765 0.34
1.00 0.75 5.535 5.518 0.31
1.25 1.00 6.488 6.472 0.25
1.25 0.50 5.942 5.934 0.13
1.50 0.75 6.934 6.906 0.41
1.50 0.50 6.659 6.646 0.20
1.75 0.35 7.208 7.188 0.28
 Closed-form fundamental-frequency estimates for polar orthotropic circular plates 221

quotient formula (1) applicable to the present problem (note that, in virtue of
relations (4), the quantity …r D ‡  Dr † in expression (1) is equivalent to
2 Dr ).

Case 4: Circular plate simply supported along its edge and having a point
support at its centre

In analogy with the preceding case of the plate with clamped edge and a
central point support, we begin by working out the de¯ected shape of the
plate under consideration. This may, once more, be achieved by super-
imposing the de¯ection function for a uniformly loaded circular plate simply
supported along its edge on that of the plate subjected to a central point load
simulating the e€ect of the column support, while, at the same time, impos-
ing the condition of zero de¯ection at this central support.
The de¯ected shape of a circular plate simply supported at its edge and
subjected to the loading q was given in Case 3 (see eqn (23)), whereas that for
a centrally applied point load P is18
 
Pa2 …2 ‡ k ‡  †…1 ÿ k†  r 2 2…1 ‡  †  r 1‡k
wP ˆ ‡ ÿ ;
4…1 ÿ k2 †Dr …1 ‡ k†…k ‡  † a …1 ‡ k†…k ‡  † a

k 6ˆ 1
…35†

Thus, the compatibility condition of vanishing de¯ection at r ˆ 0 is ful®lled

by the following relation

qa2 …1 ‡ k†…4 ‡ k ‡  †
Pˆ …36†
2…3 ‡ k†…2 ‡ k ‡  †

which apparently has universal validity, despite the fact that it is derived from
de¯ection functions that are not applicable to certain k values (for example,
the special form of relation (36) corresponding to material isotropy11 is readily
attained by setting k ˆ 1 and  ˆ  in the latter expression). Hence, the
de¯ection function describing the present plate-bending problem is
 ÿ
1‡k ÿ
4 ÿ
2 
qa4 2…5 ‡  † ar ‡…1 ÿ k†…2 ‡ k ‡  † ar ÿ…3 ÿ k†…4 ‡ k ‡  † ar
wˆ ;
8Dr …9 ÿ k2 †…1 ÿ k†…2 ‡ k ‡  †

k 6ˆ 1; 3
…37†
222 F. C. Mbakogu, M. N. PavlovicÂ

Fig. 2. Variation of (estimated) frequency parameter (

) with orthotropy coecient (k) for a
simply supported plate with and without an internal (central) point support ( ˆ 0:30).

The above expression (37), when combined with eqn (1), admits the solu-
tion speci®ed by relation (11), where the frequency parameter
now takes
the following form:
 Closed-form fundamental-frequency estimates for polar orthotropic circular plates 223
s
40…3 ÿ k†2 …1 ÿ k†2 …7 ‡ k†…5 ‡ k†…2 ‡ k†‰…8 ‡ k†…2 ‡ k† ‡ 2…5 ‡ k† ‡ 2 Š

ˆ ;
T4 ‡ T5
 ‡ T6
2

k 6ˆ 1; 3
…38†

in which

T4 ˆ 4;680 ÿ 10;644k ‡ 6;760k2 ÿ 239k3 ÿ 608k4 ‡ 34k5 ‡ 16k6 ‡ k7 …39†

T5 ˆ 2…630 ÿ 1;527k ‡ 1;141k2 ÿ 210k3 ÿ 44k4 ‡ 9k5 ‡ k6 † …40†

T6 ˆ 90 ÿ 231k ‡ 196k2 ÿ 58k3 ‡ 2k4 ‡ k5 …41†

We ®nd that, in analogy with the preceding case of the plate without a
central point support, the above expression (38) can considerably be simpli-
®ed through the use of the computer algebra code MATHEMATICA. This
enables the factorization of the polynomial expressions (39)±(41) as follows
(note that, unlike relation (39), expressions (40) and (41) could readily be
factorized manually (i.e. without recourse to computerized symbolic manip-
ulation methods)):

T4 ˆ …3 ÿ k†2 …1 ÿ k†2 …520 ‡ 240k ‡ 24k2 ‡ k3 † …42†

T5 ˆ 2…3 ÿ k†2 …1 ÿ k†2 …10 ‡ k†…7 ‡ k† …43†

T6 ˆ …3 ÿ k†2 …1 ÿ k†2 …10 ‡ k† …44†

On the basis of the above relations (42)±(44), one can achieve the reduction
of eqn (38) to the following form (which is clearly applicable to all (practical)
values of k):
s
40…7 ‡ k†…5 ‡ k†…2 ‡ k†‰…8 ‡ k†…2 ‡ k† ‡ 2…5 ‡ k† ‡ 2 Š

ˆ …45†
520 ‡ 204k ‡ 24k2 ‡ k3 ‡ …10 ‡ k†‰2…7 ‡ k† ‡ 2 Š

Hence, the present formulation permits the ready computation of the

required lowest circular frequencies (by means of formulae (11) and (45)) for
224 F. C. Mbakogu, M. N. PavlovicÂ

arbitrary values of the elastic constants (and, hence, also, the orthotropy
coecient k), in spite of the fact that the de¯ected shape (37), on which it is
based, is not applicable to materials having k ˆ 1 and k ˆ 3. Thus, for iso-
tropic materials, eqn (45) reduces to the following form (c.f. Ref. 11):
r
5;760…9 ‡ †…3 ‡ †

ˆ …46†
112 ‡ 176 ‡ 749

while the corresponding expression for materials characterized by k ˆ 3 is

s
16;000…11 ‡  †…5 ‡  †

ˆ …47†
132 ‡ 260 ‡ 1;375

As would be expected, the above results for materials having k ˆ 1 and k ˆ 3

can formally be veri®ed through the use of the appropriate de¯ection func-
tions corresponding to such materials. Once again, this may be achieved by
evaluating the limiting values of the governing de¯ection function (37) as k
tends to each of these values. Thus, the resulting expression for isotropic
materials (see also Ref. 11)
   
q 4 2 2 2 2 5‡ r
wˆ r ÿ a r ÿ 2a r ln …48†
64D 3‡ a

can easily be used to verify the foregoing relation (46), while the following
corresponding result for materials having k ˆ 3
 
q 7 ‡  2 2 r
wˆ …a r ÿ r4 † ‡ 2r4 ln …49†
96Dr 5 ‡  a

enables the ready con®rmation of relation (47). (Note that, as in the preced-
ing Case Study 3, expressions (46) and (47) can also be veri®ed by evaluating
the limiting values of expression (38) (in which T4 , T5 and T6 are de®ned by
relations (39)±(41)) as k tends to 1 and 3, respectively.)
The variation of the frequency parameter
, de®ned by eqn (45), with the
orthotropy coecient k is illustrated in Fig. 2 for a material having a Pois-
son's ratio  ˆ 0:30. As would be expected,
increases as k increases;
furthermore, the point support has the e€ect of sti€ening the plate very
considerably, as can be seen through a comparison of the frequency
 Closed-form fundamental-frequency estimates for polar orthotropic circular plates 225

TABLE 3
Summary of Results for the Fundamental-Frequency Parameter
for Circular Plates
Boundary condition at outer edge
Material type
Plate without point support Plate with point support
Clamped Simply supported Clamped Simply supported
Orthotropic eqn (12)
p eqn (31) peqn (18) 
 eqn (45)
Isotropic 320=3 eqn (34) 5;760=11 eqn (46)

parameters corresponding to the present problem with their counterparts for

the preceding case of the plate having only circumferential (edge) support
(c.f. Fig. 1 and Ref. 11).
It is worth noting that, in marked contrast to the corresponding problem
of the plate with clamped edge, the frequency parameter
now depends not
only on the orthotropy coecient k, but also on the Poisson's ratio  ; the
reasons for this are similar to those adduced in the preceding section, in the
context of the simply supported plate without an internal point support.
Finally, we note that, to our knowledge, the only ``exact'' solution to the
present problem (after Sakharov;33 see also Leissa,5 for a summary) is lim-
ited in scope to the special case of material isotropy …k ˆ 1†: the only avail-
able solution to the frequency equation corresponding to the above work
predicts a value of
ˆ 14:8 for a material having a Poisson's ratio  ˆ 0:3;
as pointed out in Ref. 11, the above result di€ers but little from the corre-
sponding value
ˆ 14:83914 (computed to seven signi®cant-®gure accuracy)
obtained by means of the present formulation.

CONCLUSIONS

Estimates of the fundamental frequencies of vibration of simply supported

and clamped polar orthotropic circular plates with and without internal
(central) point supports have been presented through the use of Rayleigh's
method, in which the de¯ection functions corresponding to the associated
statical (i.e. plate-bending) problems are taken as the shape functions
approximating the vibrational modes. The present treatment, which is
essentially a generalization of an earlier formulation11 pertaining to plates
composed of isotropic materials, yields compact, closed-form expressions
enabling the direct calculation of practically ``exact'' natural frequencies for
arbitrary values of the elastic constants. The good working of the method
has been demonstrated through comparisons with the corresponding,
benchmark , classical solutions. In this connection, it is worth pointing out
226 F. C. Mbakogu, M. N. PavlovicÂ

that, to our knowledge, no previous analytical solutions have been developed

for the two problems involving polar orthotropic plates with additional
internal point supports (but note that, by contrast, solutions have been pre-
sented5,11,33 for the special cases of material isotropy). Finally, it is found
that the application of computerized symbolic manipulation techniques
greatly facilitates the handling of some of the algebraic expressions encoun-
tered in the present formulation, and provides additional impetus for a wider
use of Rayleigh's classical method in obtaining simple, yet accurate, for-
mulae for design. It was partly to encourage engineers to look again at Lord
Rayleigh's easily understoodÐbut powerfulÐtechnique that we have out-
lined each of the problems in full detail. This has led to a profusion of
equations which should enable potential users of Rayleigh's quotient to fol-
low the rather simple steps involved with con®dence. However, such detailed
exposition should not obscure the main results encapsulated in the eight for-
mulae corresponding to each of the fundamental problems presently considered
and, hence, as an aid to designers, these are summarized in Table 3.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to express their gratitude to Mr Thomas Sippel-Dau,

of the Imperial College Computer Centre, for his assistance on the use of the
computer algebra system MATHEMATICA. Thanks are also due to Mr
Chuma Cos-Okpalla and Mr Ejike Mba, both of Allied Tropical Consultants
Ltd, who checked some of the results that appear in this paper.

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