Determination of Prestress in Circular Inhomogeneous Solid and Annular Plates in the Framework of the Timoshenko Hypotheses

Determination of prestress fields in structures is of the utmost importance, since they have a significant impact on operational characteristics, and their level and distribution must be strictly controlled. In this paper, we present modeling of bending vibrations of solid and annular round inhomogeneous prestressed plates within the framework of the Timoshenko hypotheses. New inverse problems of prestress identification in plates are studied on the basis of the acoustic response subjected to some probing load. To solve direct problems on calculating oscillations and amplitude-frequency characteristics, a computational Galerkin-method-based scheme has been developed. In order to treat the inverse problems, we use a special projection approach based on the constructed weak problems statements, which makes it possible to determine the desired characteristics in the given classes of functions. The developed techniques for solving direct problems are implemented in the form of software packages realized via Maple. For both solid and annular plates, we estimate the sensitivity of the amplitude-frequency characteristics the values of which are used as the additional data in the inverse problems to a change in the prestress level; we conclude that the most favorable frequency range should be selected in the resonance vicinity. We have conducted a series of computational tests on reconstructing the plate’s prestresses of various levels and distribution patterns (decreasing, increasing, sign-changing laws). The results of computational tests revealed that the technique developed allows for the determination of the prestresses with a low error for two cases: when the cause of prestress formation and its type are known and when arbitrary prestress changing laws are considered.