Free vibration analysis of circular and annular sectorial thin plates using curve strip Fourier p-element

A curve strip Fourier p-element for free vibration analysis of circular and annular sectorial thin plates is presented. The element transverse displacement is described by a fixed number of polynomial shape functions plus a variable number of trigonometric shape functions. The polynomial shape functions are used to describe the element's nodal displacements and the trigonometric shape functions are used to provide additional freedom to the edges and the interior of the element. With the additional Fourier degrees of freedom (dof) and reduce dimensions, the accuracy of the computed natural frequencies is greatly increased. Results are obtained for a number of circular and annular sectorial thin plates and comparisons are made with exact, the curve strip Fourier p-element, the proposed Fourier p-element and the finite strip element. The results clearly show that the curve strip Fourier p-element produces a much higher accuracy than the proposed Fourier p-element, the finite strip element. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.