Numerical procedure for the vibration analysis of arbitrarily constrained stiffened panels with openings

A simple and efficient vibration analysis procedure for stiffened panels with openings and arbitrary boundary conditions based on the assumed mode method is presented. Natural frequencies and modes are determined by solving an eigenvalue problem of a multi-degree-of-freedom system matrix equation derived by using Lagrange's equations of motion, where Mindlin theory is applied for plate and Timoshenko beam theory for stiffeners. The effect of stiffeners on vibration response is taken into account by adding their strain and kinetic energies to the corresponding plate energies whereas the strain and kinetic energies of openings are subtracted from the plate energies. Different stiffened panels with various opening shapes and dispositions for several combinations of boundary conditions are analyzed and the results show good agreement with those obtained by the finite element analysis. Hence, the proposed procedure is especially appropriate for use in the preliminary design stage of stiffened panels with openings.