Geometrically nonlinear vibrations of rectangular plates carrying a concentrated mass

Nonlinear forced vibrations of rectangular plates carrying a central concentrated mass are studied. The plate is assumed to have immovable edges and rotational springs; numerical results are presented for clamped plates. The Von Kármán nonlinear plate theory is used, but in-plane inertia in both the plate and the mass is retrained. The problem is discretized into a multi-degree-of-freedom (dof) system by using an energy approach and Lagrange equations taking damping into account. A pseudo-arclength continuation method is used in order to obtain numerical solutions. Results are presented as both (i) frequency–amplitude curves and (ii) time domain responses. The effect of gravity and the effect of the consequent initial plate deflection are also investigated.