Free Vibrations of Pre-twisted Thick Plates

A numerical method for the analysis of the free vibration behavior of twisted thick cantilever plates by using the Rayleigh-Ritz approach is presented in this paper, together with some numerical results. The method is based on the three-dimensional elasticity theory by considering rotating inertia and shear deformation. Numerical results are compared with the available ones in the literatures. The comparison shows the method presented in this paper to be useful for analyzing the free vibration of pre-twisted thick and thin cantilever plates. The effects of pre-twist and aspect ratio of plates on the free vibratory characteristics of the twisted thick plates are also investigated.