On the rational derivation of a hierarchy of dynamic equations for a homogeneous, isotropic, elastic plate (Q5931859)

The authors present asymptotic hierarchy of linear dynamic equations of homogeneous, isotropic plate with constant thickness, which is taken to be a small parameter. The displacement components are expanded into Taylor series keeping odd or even powers of vertical coordinate when in plane (horizontal) or vertical components are expressed respectively. General form of external excitation (in three components) is respected. Complicated algebraic manipulations lead to one partial differential equation in time and in plane space coordinates. This equation gives a possibility to keep or neglect higher order terms with respect to thickness powers. The presented form is very suitable for problems of bending and shear wave propagation, when excitation frequency results in wave length comparable with the plate thickness, which is impossible when using conventional approaches. Several numerical examples illustrating the analytical results are presented dealing with dispersion curves, displacements, etc. Although many papers of this type have been published in since sixties, this paper is very systematic and gives an excellent overview about domains of individual approaches with respect to powers of the small parameter. Nevertheless a comparison with other types of initial expansion should be done, e.g. using orthogonal polynomials. This procedure has been applied in several papers published in seventies by Reisner, Hlaváček and other authors. Also expansion in curvilinear coordinates using covariant derivatives and tensor translation when analyzing shells should be taken into account (see papers and monographs by Kiltchevskij).