Authors Accepted Manuscript

Effect of fibre orientation on non-linear vibration of

partially cracked thin rectangular orthotropic micro
plate: An Analytical Approach

Ankur Gupta, N.K. Jain, R. Salhotra, A.M.

Rawani, P.V. Joshi
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmecsci

PII: S0020-7403(15)00397-5
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2015.11.020
Reference: MS3151
To appear in: International Journal of Mechanical Sciences
Received date: 8 November 2015
Accepted date: 12 November 2015
Cite this article as: Ankur Gupta, N.K. Jain, R. Salhotra, A.M. Rawani and P.V.
Joshi, Effect of fibre orientation on non-linear vibration of partially cracked thin
rectangular orthotropic micro plate: An Analytical Approach, International
Journal of Mechanical Sciences,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2015.11.020
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Effect of fibre orientation on non-linear vibration of partially cracked thin rectangular
orthotropic micro plate: An Analytical Approach

Ankur Gupta*, Department of Mechanical Engineering,

National Institute of Technology Raipur, (C.G.) INDIA. 492010
Email: ankurgupta1729@gmail.com

Dr. N. K. Jain, Department of Mechanical Engineering,

National Institute of Technology Raipur, (C.G.) INDIA. 492010
Email: nkjmanit@rediffmail.com

Dr. R. Salhotra, Department of Mechanical Engineering,

National Institute of Technology Raipur, (C.G.) INDIA. 492010
Email: salhotra_rahul@rediffmail.com

Dr. A.M. Rawani, Department of Mechanical Engineering,

National Institute of Technology Raipur, (C.G.) INDIA. 492010
Email: amrawani@rediffmail.com

P. V. Joshi, Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Shri Shankaracharya Technical Campus, SSGI, Bhilai, (C.G.) INDIA. 490020
Email: psad@rediffmail.com

Abstract
A nonlinear analytical model for vibration analysis of partially cracked thin orthotropic plate
as affected by the fibre orientation and arbitrary position of a partial crack is presented. The
approach is based on the classical plate theory and the effect of microstructure is incorporated
using the modified couple stress theory. A single partial crack located at an arbitrary position
along the line of symmetry is parallel to one of the edges of the plate. The crack considered is
in the form of a continuous line and its effect is incorporated in the form of moment and in-
plane forces based on a simplified line spring model. Non linearity in the model is introduced
by Bergers formulation for the in-plane forces while the Galerkins method with modal
functions is used to obtaining the solution of the governing differential equation. A nonlinear
frequency response relation and peak amplitude is obtained by the application of the method
of multiple scales. Extensive results for the fundamental frequencies and peak amplitude as
affected by the fibre orientation, plate aspect ratio, crack length, crack position and internal
material length scale parameter are presented for two boundary conditions. It is found that the
fibre orientation and the microstructure of the plate affect the fundamental frequencies of the
partially cracked orthotropic plates. The linear and nonlinear frequency response curves
based on the classical plate theory and the modified couple stress theory are plotted which
shows the effect of internal material length scale parameter and crack position on the bending
hardening or softening phenomenon.

*Corresponding author
Keywords
Micro-plate, partial crack, non-linear vibration, fibre orientation

1. Introduction
Vibration analysis of structural components is an important aspect in designing complex
engineering geometries. Orthotropic plates with different fibre orientations are one such
component that is widely used in various industrial applications such as in automobile
industry, aerospace and civil structures due to its high strength to weight ratio. Literature
shows that the presence of defects in the form of cracks can cause severe performance threats.
Dimarogonas [1] presented a detailed review on vibration of cracked structures. Based on the
Kirchhoffs plate theory Rice and Levy [2] formulated the line spring model (LSM) for
cracked plate to find the stress intensity factor with stretching and bending compliances. In
their model, tensile and bending compliances varied with the crack depth and they
represented a continuous line crack by moment and in-plane force on the mid plane. Qian
Guan-Liang et al. [3] investigated the vibration behaviour of simply supported and cantilever
plates with a through crack using FEM. Solecki [4] presented results for bending vibration of
a rectangular plate with arbitrarily located rectilinear crack using double finite Fourier
transformation. Huang and Leissa [5] presented free vibration analysis of a rectangular plate
with a side crack using the Ritz method with special displacement functions. In their next
work they applied Ritz method in order to accurately determine the natural frequencies and
nodal patterns of thick rectangular plates with side and internal crack using the Mindlin plate
theory [6]. King [7] used the simplified line spring model [2] and developed a set of linear
algebraic equation to analyze fracture parameters at the root of surface cracks. Bhaskar and
Sivaram [8] presented an accurate superposition method for isotropic and specially
orthotropic plates with arbitrary transverse load and mixed boundary conditions. Kshirsagar
and Bhaskar [9] performed free vibration analysis of orthotropic plates by applying
superposition approach for mixed boundary conditions developed by Bhaskar and Sivaram
[8]. Huang and Chan [10] used moving least square method in their application of Ritz
method for vibration analysis of cracked plate. Huang et al. [11] presented three dimensional
vibration analysis of functionally graded rectangular plate with through internal cracks. Xing
and Liu [12] used method of separation of variables and obtained exact natural frequencies
for thin orthotropic plates. An approximate method for finding fundamental frequencies of
free vibration of the thin orthotropic plates was deduced by Biancolini et al. [13]. Stahl and
Keer [14] solved vibration and buckling problems for cracked rectangular plate and compared

2
the results for natural frequencies with other investigators. Transverse vibration analysis of
isotropic and orthotropic plates with circular and rectangular hole was carried out by
Gutierrez et al. [15]. The authors concluded that fundamental frequency increases with the
increase in hole diameter for clamped plate due to dynamic stiffening. Viola et al. [16] used
differential quadrature FEM to analyse the dynamics of cracked thick composite plate.
Extended FEM was used by Bachene et al. [17] to obtain the solution of vibrating cracked
plates. Yin et al. [18] studied bending, buckling and free vibration of FGM plate by applying
a shear locking free, simple and efficient plate element formulation. Wang et al. [19] used
perturbation method for vibration analysis of composite plates with damage. Natarajan et al.
[20] used extended finite element method to obtain natural frequencies of cracked
functionally graded material (FGM) plates. Batra and Jin [21] analysed the free vibrations of
functionally graded anisotropic plates by combining the FEM with the first order shear
deformation theory. Chakraverty and Pradhan [22] used classical plate theory (CPT) for
vibration analysis of exponential functionally graded rectangular plates in thermal
environment for different boundary conditions. Mantari and Ore [23] used simplified first
order shear deformation theory for free vibration of single and sandwich laminated composite
plates. Ferreira et al. [24] analysed natural frequencies of orthotropic , monoclinic and
hexagonal material thick plates by extending the radial basis function. A model for free
vibration analysis of FGP is developed by Jha et al. [25]. They applied higher order shear
deformation theory and normal deformation theory to obtain the solutions. Israr [26] and [27]
used the line spring model proposed by Rice and Levy [2] and developed a new analytical
model to find an approximate analytical solution for vibrations of cracked isotropic
rectangular plates and concluded that with an increase in the crack length the fundamental
frequency decreases. In their model the crack was located at the centre and was parallel to
one of the edges of the plate. They also applied the method of multiple scales to obtain the
amplitude response for various boundary conditions. Ismail [28] further modified the model
developed by Israr [26] and presented the results for first mode natural frequency of cracked
isotropic plate with crack located at centre of the plate and having various orientation. The
work of Joshi et al. [29] shows the application of Line spring model [2] to find the first mode
natural frequency of the cracked isotropic plate with two mutually perpendicular line cracks.
The cracks were located at the centre of the plate with fixed crack depth. They also presented
results for various locations of the two cracks along the thickness of the plate. Further,
extending their work Joshi et al. [30], [31] and [32] proposed analytical model for vibration
analysis of cracked orthotropic plate [30], vibration analysis of cracked FGM and orthotropic

3
plate with internal crack considering the effect of microstructure [31] and vibration analysis
of cracked isotropic plate in thermal environment [32]. Malhotra et al. [33] presented FEM
results for the effect of the fibre orientation on first mode natural frequency of orthotropic
intact plate. They showed results for various orthotropic materials and various boundary
conditions. Bose et al. [34] proposed an analytical model for vibration analysis of isotropic
plate with part through surface crack located at arbitrarily location and orientation. It has
been experimentally proved that the micro-structure of the plate affects its vibration
characteristics. Various theories which incorporated the effect of microstructure include
couple stress theory and strain gradient theory. Papargyri-Beskou and Beskos [35] in their
work showed the inclusion of strain gradient coefficients and constant in-plane forces in the
equation of motion resulting in sixth order partial differential equation. Modified couple
stress theory (MCST) was developed by Yang et al. [36] where the couple stress tensor was
symmetric and only one internal material length scale parameter was considered to capture
the effect of microstructure. Based on this modified couple stress theory Tsiatas [37]
considered one material length scale parameter and developed a new Kirchhoff plate model
for the static analysis of isotropic micro-plates with arbitrary shape. Yin et al. [38] proposed
an analytical model for the vibration analysis of micro plates based on the modified couple
stress theory and concluded that the results of modified couple stress theory are always higher
than those obtained by the classical plate theory for micro plates and hence showing the
dependence of size effect on thin plates. Jung et al. [39] developed a model for sigmoid
functionally graded material (S-FGM) microplates based on modified couple stress theory in
conjunction with with the first order shear deformation theory. Tadi Beni et al. [40]
developed a size dependent equation of motion for FGM shell using shear deformation
model. Recently Gupta et al. [41] presented effect of microstructure on vibration
characteristics of partially cracked isotropic and FGM rectangular plates based on a modified
couple stress theory. A single internal material length scale parameter was considered to
capture the size effect. They also showed the frequency response curve and variation in
fundamental frequency between classical plate theory and modified couple stress theory for
cracked isotropic and FGM plate and concluded that microstructure affects the fundamental
frequency of thin plates.
The literature shows that the vibration characteristics of cracked plate depend on crack
length, aspect ratio, crack location, crack depth and boundary conditions. Analytical
modelling of partially cracked plates is one of the recent area of research (Refs.[26], [28],
[29], [31] and [34]) which has the natural advantage of being fast when compared to finite

4
element models. To the best of the authors knowledge, literature lacks in the results for
vibration analysis of orthotropic plate with arbitrarily located crack and different fibre
orientation considering the effect of microstructure.
2. Problem Description
The present work references the analytical model proposed by Israr et al. [26] for partially
cracked isotropic plate, extended by Joshi et al. [30] for partially cracked orthotropic plate
and applies it for the case of a thin rectangular partially cracked orthotropic plate considering
the effect of fibre orientation and arbitrary position of a partial crack. Also the effect of
microstructure of the plate on vibration characteristics is incorporated using a single internal
material length scale parameter based on the modified couple stress theory. Thus the present
work extends the currently developing field of vibration analysis of partially cracked plates
and addresses the following;
i) Vibration analysis of partially cracked specially orthotropic (requiring four elastic
constants ) plate based on the classical plate theory as affected by
fibre orientation.
ii) The effect of single internal material length scale parameter (based on the
modified couple stress theory) and fiber orientation on fundamental frequencies
and peak amplitude.
iii) The effect of location of crack on vibration characteristics considering the
classical plate theory and the modified couple stress theory.
iv) The effect of microstructure, fibre orientation and location of crack on the
nonlinear frequency response.
The configuration of the thin orthotropic plate under consideration is shown in Fig. 1 and
Fig. 2. L1 and L2 are the plate dimensions along x and y axis respectively. h is the thickness
of the plate along z axis. Crack length is represented by 2a and the offset distance d is the
distance between the centre of the plate and the centre of crack length. is the fibre
orientation. The depth of crack is constant and is less than the plate thickness h. Line spring
model is used to incorporate the effect of crack in the form of moment and membrane forces.
Employing the equilibrium principle based on the classical plate theory, the equation of
motion of the cracked orthotropic plate is obtained. The effect of microstructure is
incorporated by using the single internal material length scale parameter. Bergers
formulation for the in-plane forces is used to convert the equation of motion of the cracked
plate into a cubic nonlinear system. In order to obtain fundamental frequency of the cracked

5
plate Galerkins method is used to convert the equation of motion into nonlinear Duffing
equation. The effect of geometric nonlinearity in the frequency response is established using
the method of multiple scales. Results for the fundamental frequencies as affected by plate
aspect ratio, crack length, offset distance, fibre orientation and internal material length scale
parameter are presented for two boundary conditions; (i) All edges simply supported (SSSS)
(ii) Two adjacent edges clamped and two simply supported (CCSS)

L1
x

Crack depth
2a
L2
Fibres

y
z,w

Fig. 1. Orthotropic lamina showing fibre orientation and a partial crack located at the centre of the plate

L1
x

Crack depth
2a
L2
Fibres
d

h

y
z,w

Fig. 2. Orthotropic lamina showing fibre orientation and arbitrarily located partial crack

3. Governing Equation
The governing equation of motion of an intact orthotropic based on the classical plate theory
has been rigorously treated by Szilard [42]. Although the classical plate theory over predicts
the frequencies, it has been employed by many researchers for thin orthotropic plates
(Refs.[12] and [13]). The equation of motion governing the nonlinear vibrations of an

6
orthotropic cracked plate with various fibre orientations is derived here based on the
equilibrium principle of the classical plate theory in conjunction with the modified couple
stress theory. The assumptions involved in the derivation are; (1) Both the fibres and matrix
are linearly elastic isotropic materials. (2) Fibres are uniformly distributed in the matrix. (3)
Fibres are perfectly aligned in the 1-direction (Fig. 3). (4) There is perfect bonding between
fibres and matrix. (5) The composite lamina is free of voids. (6) Thickness of the plate is
assumed to be small in comparison with other two dimensions. (7) The stress normal to the
mid plane in transverse direction is neglected. (8) The effect of rotary inertia and shear
deformation are neglected. (4) All strain components follow Hookes law. (9) The crack
terms are based on LSM [2]. Applying the above assumptions, the equation of motion for an
intact orthotropic plate based on the classical plate theory can be stated as Szilard [42]

(1)

Where, and are the flexural rigidities, is the transverse

load, are Poisson's ratios, the effective torsional rigidity is

. For uniform thickness of the orthotropic plate, torsional rigidity is given by

( ) . is the density and is the transverse deflection of the plate.

are the membrane or in-plane forces per unit length.

The governing differential equation of motion for a thin orthotropic plate with a partial
continuous line crack located at the centre of the plate and parallel to one edge has been
recently presented by Joshi et al. [30]. They employed the classical plate theory and the crack
terms therein were formulated based on the LSM. The equation of motion presented by them
can be stated as,

(2)

Where and are the crack terms based on the LSM and they represent the in-plane
force and moment due to the crack.
More recently Joshi et al. [31] extended their own work on thin-partially cracked orthotropic
plate by incorporating the effect of microstructure in the form of a single internal material
length scale parameter. Thus they presented an equation of motion for cracked micro-plates
which can be stated as [31],

7
 (3)

Where and are the additional bending rigidities due to the

microstructure. is the internal material length scale parameter and may be viewed as a
material property representing the eect of couple stress. Also
and ( )

The stress-strain relations for a thin orthotropic lamina considering the fibre orientation have
been dealt with in the standard text by Mallick [43]. Such relations in the elastic range can be
stated as,

(4)

(5)

(6)

Where and are the elastic constants, are the elastic modulus
along x and y axis respectively. are the mid-plane strains. and
represent the influence of shear stress on extensional strains (Eq. (4) and Eq. (5)) and the
influence of normal stresses on shear strain (Eq. (6)). These coefficients of mutual influence
( and ) depend upon the fibre orientation and the elastic constants. They represent the
coupling of the normal and shear stresses. The relations for these coefficients can be stated as
[43]

{ } (7)

{ } (8)

For fibre orientations ( = 00 and = 900 ) both and vanish, and therefore for these
fibre orientations, there is no extensional shear-coupling [43]. For fibre orientations other
than = 00 and = 900, there exist six elasticity modulus; . The
representation of these elasticity constants is shown in Fig. 3 and the inter-relationship
between them can be written as [43],

8
 (9)

(10)

(11)

{ } (12)

y
(13)

2
1

Fig.3. Orthotropic lamina with four elasticity constants (E1, E2, Ex, Ey)

It is customary to represent the mid surface strains in the terms of curvature as

(14)

(15)

(16)

Using Eq. (4) to Eq. (6) and Eq. (14) to Eq. (16), the relations for the normal stresses ( )
and the in-plane shear stress ( can be written as,

( ) ( )
( )
( )( )
(17)
( )
( )( )

9
 ( ) ( )
( )
( )( )
(18)
( )
( )( )

[ ( ) ( )]
( )
( ) ( )
(19)
( )

Equations for bending and twisting moments can be obtained by integrating Eq. (17) to Eq.
(19) over the plate thickness as

(20)

( )
( ) ( )

(21)
( )
( )( )

( )
( ) ( )

(22)
( )
( )( )

( ) ( )
( ) ( )
(23)
( )

In the above equations and are the bending moments and is the twisting moment.

Consider the cracked plate element shown in Fig. 4. Bending moments and internal forces of
the mid plane of the plate are considered as per Kirchhoffs Classical thin plate theory [42].
My* and Mx* represent the bending moments, = are the twisting moments. is
the bending moment due to the crack length 2a [29]. Ismail and Cartmell [28], in their work
on inclined crack showed that the twisting moment = appears only when the crack
is inclined to the edges of the plate, hence it is neglected in Fig. 4.

10
 o x

dx
y

z,w
Qy
Qx My* + My Crack of length 2a
Myx*
Mxy*

dy Mx*

Pz

Plate middle surface

Fig. 4. Orthotropic plate element showing moments and internal forces on the middle surface
considering the internal material length scale parameter.

Taking moment equilibrium about the x and the y axis one obtains

(24)

(25)

where

(26)

(27)

(28)

and are the bending moments per unit length due to the couple stress, whereas
are the twisting moments. The bending moments ( , , ) can be
expressed in terms of lateral deflection as given by Eq. (21) to Eq. (23)

11
The summation of all forces in the z direction yields the third equilibrium equation

(29)

From Eqs. (24), (25) and (29) one obtains

(30)

Expressing the moments in Eq. (30) in terms of lateral deflection from Eq. (21) to Eq. (23),
the equation of motion of cracked plate considering the effect of couple stress can be stated as
( )
( ) ( )

( )
( )( )

( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( )

( )
( ) ( )

( )
( )( )

(31)
The in-plane forces are the functions of boundary conditions and generally occur due to pre-
stressing or temperature variation in the plate (Refs.[26] and [29]). Therefore these membrane
forces are to be considered for the cracked plate also and it is arbitrarily assumed that the two
adjacent edges of the plate are fixed as shown in Fig. 5. Other edge conditions are equally
possible. Taking the equilibrium of the in-plane forces along z axis one obtains

(32)

12
 dx
(Ny + Ny)dx
Fibres
Nyxdx

Nxydy

dy

( )

Crack of length 2a

( )

(b)
Fig. 5. Equilibrium of the in-plane forces along z axis for the cracked orthotropic plate.

Eq. (32) shows that the effect of the in-plane forces is a lateral force which must be added to
Eq. (31). The in-plane forces and = are neglected due to discontinuity along x
axis [26]. Thus the equation of motion of the cracked plate considering the effect of fibre
orientation, couple stress and in-plane forces can be written as,
( )
( ) ( )

( )
( )( )

( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( )

( )
( ) ( )

( )
( )( )

(33)

4. Crack Terms
The line spring model (LSM) approximates the crack problem for a thin plate by giving the
relationship between the constraining effect produced by the net ligament and the tensile and

13
bending moments at far sides of the plate. Israr et al. [26] used the LSM and obtained the
relation between tensile and bending loads at far sides of the plate with those at crack surface.
Joshi et al. [30] presented such a use of LSM to obtain the relation between tensile and
bending loads at far sides of the plate with those at crack surface for the thin orthotropic
plate. In the present work, this relation between the tensile and bending moments at the far
sides of the plate and at the crack location is applied to the moment and the in-plane
forces . Thus, the relation between the tensile and bending loads at the far sides of the
plate with those at the crack surface for an orthotropic plate can be written as [30]
(34)
( )

( )
(35)

In the above equations , , are the crack compliance coefficients for

stretching, bending and tensile-bending respectively. The values of these coefficients can be
obtained from the literature [26] and [29] for the crack located at the centre of the plate. For
the arbitrary position of the crack along the line of symmetry, the values of the three
compliance coefficients can be obtained from the work of Bose et al. [34]. They presented
the compliance coefficients for offset crack and showed that each coefficient has to be

multiplied by a factor ( ) ( ) . where = d/L1 is the eccentricity

( )

ratio, d is the distance between centre of the plate and centre of the crack along x direction,
= (h/L1) and = (a/ L1). Thus the effect of the offset crack location can be taken into
account by the appropriate use of compliance coefficients.

5. Solution of equation of motion

Characteristics modal functions are defined depending on the different boundary conditions
of the plate and the solution of the governing equation of the cracked plate is obtained. The
general solution for transverse deflection by Galerkins method is given by
(36)
In the above equation are the characteristic modal functions, is the
arbitrary amplitude and is the time dependent modal coordinate. Berger neglected
the strain energy due to second invariant of mid-surface strains and obtained the deflection
of plate and showed that the forms of in-plane forces obtained work well for combinations
of simply supported and clamped boundary conditions. Bergers formulation is applied by

14
many researchers [26], [29] and [41] for non linear vibrations of rectangular plate.
Formulating the membrane forces in terms of mid-surface strains as
(37)

The mid-surface strain can be expressed as [44]

(38)

(39)

Where u and v are displacements along x and y direction respectively. Substituting Eqs.

(38) and (39) into Eq.(37)

(40)

Multiplying Eq. (40) by dxdy and integrating over plate area and imposing the conditions

that and vanish at plate boundaries and also at crack location due to symmetry ( =

yields to Eq. (41)

( ] (41)

( ]

Applying the definition of w from Eq. (36), the in-plane forces can be expressed as
(42)

(43)

where,

B1mn = {( ) ( ) } (44)

B2mn = { } (45)

Substitution of Eqs. (34)-(35) and Eqs. (42)-(43) in Eq. (33), multiplying Eq.(33) by
and then integrating over plate area, the equation of motion of cracked plate can be written
as

15

( )
( ) ( )

( )
( )( )

( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( )

( )
( ) ( )

( )
( )
( )( )
( )
( ) ( )

}
( ) ( )
( )( )

{ } 0
( )

(46)
In Eq. (46) the moments are expressed using Eqs. (21) - (23). The modal peak amplitude
is normalized to unity. The lateral load can be neglected for free vibrations. Eq. (46)
can be expressed in the form of Duffing equation with cubic nonlinear term as

(47)

(48)

( )
( ) ( )

( )
( )( )

( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( )

16
 ( )
( ) ( )

( )
( )
( )( )

( )
( ) ( )

} (49)
( ) ( )
( )( )

{ } (50)

From Eq. (47), the natural frequency can be evaluated as .

In Eq. (46), when = = 0, then the governing equation reduces to that based on the
classical plate theory as,

( )
( ) ( )

( )
( )
( )( )

( ) ( )
( ) ( )
( )
( )
( ) ( )

( )
( )
( )( )

( )
( ) ( )

}
( ) ( )
( )( )

{ } 0 (51)
( )

Eq. (51) when applied for fibre orientation = 00 or = 900) exactly agrees with the
equation presented by Joshi et al. [30]

17
6. Frequency Response and peak amplitude
In order to understand the non linear behaviour of the vibrating plate the method of multiple
scales is adopted. The method of multiple scales is rigorously treated in the recent literature
(Refs. [26], [31] and [30]) for formulating the frequency response relations. Israr et al. [26]
applied method of multiple scales to study the frequency response of an isotropic plate with
a partial crack. Joshi et al. [30] used the method in their model of vibration analysis of
cracked orthotropic plate. Similar approach has been adopted in the present model to
understand the nonlinear behaviour of the orthotropic plate with fibre orientation and
arbitrary crack location. The final frequency response relation is stated here as the detailed
derivation can be seen in the work by Joshi et al. [31].

(52)

Where is the detuning parameter, is the amplitude, is the non linear term,
is the fundamental frequency, is the damping factor, is the amplitude of excitation,

where ( is the position of external load. It can be seen that

flexural rigidity is not included in the above equation because of the orthotropic nature of

the plate. The peak amplitude can be found as which is independent of the

cubic non linearity.

7. Results and Discussion

This section presents new results for fundamental frequencies, peak amplitude and frequency
response based on the classical plate theory (CPT, ) and the modified couple stress
theory ( To the best of the authors knowledge, the literature lacks in results for
vibration analysis of partially cracked orthotropic plate with different fibre orientation
considering the effect of microstructure. Results for vibration analysis of intact orthotropic
plate with different fibre orientations can be found in the work by Malhotra et al. [33].
Recently Joshi et al. [30] presented results for vibration analysis of partially cracked
orthotropic plate with fibre orientation 00 and 900 only. Therefore for the purpose of
validation, the present results are compared with the results from references [30] and [33].
The material for the orthotropic plate is taken as Boron Epoxy with the following properties,
Ex= 208 x 109 Pa, Ey = 18.9 x 109 Pa, = 0.23, = 0.0208, G12 = 5.7 x 109 Pa, = 2000
kg/m3 , = 0.08. The depth of crack and plate thickness is taken as 0.006m and 0.01m
respectively throughout the present work. Table 1 shows the non dimensional frequency

18
parameter which is expressed as . For an intact plate, the present
results are in agreement with the results given in references [30] and [33]. It can be seen from
Table 1 that for an intact square orthotropic SSSS plate with different fibre orientation, the
results are symmetric about 450.

Table 1 Fundamental frequency parameter for intact orthotropic square SSSS plate

Frequency parameter
Present
(CPT, Ref.[33] Ref.[30]
)
0 20.03 20.04 20.03
15 21.85 21.86 -
30 25.08 25.11 -
45 26.55 26.59 -
60 25.08 25.11 -
75 21.85 21.80 -
90 20.03 20.04 20.03

The present model for cracked orthotropic plate with different fibre orientation reduces to
the one presented by Joshi et al. [30] when fibre orientations are specifically selected as 00

and 900. Table 2 shows the non-dimensional frequency parameter for a

square orthotropic plate with a = 0.01m. It is seen from Table 2 that the present results for
cracked plate are in agreement with the published results.

Table 2 Fundamental frequency parameter for cracked orthotropic square plate

Frequency parameter 2
Boundary Present
Ref. [30]
Condition (CPT, )
SSSS 0 10.92 10.92
90 10.35 10.35
CCSS 0 17.06 17.06
90 16.13 16.13
CCFF 0 3.66 3.66
90 3.45 3.45
CCFF- two adjacent edges clamped and the other two free

Joshi et al. [31] in their work on vibration analysis of orthotropic plate with an internal
crack considering the effect of microstructure and presented results for fibres parallel to x

19
axis. Since the present work is for partial surface crack, therefore the results are validated
for intact orthotropic plate considering the effect of microstructure for fibre orientation 00.
Table 3 shows such a validation in the form of frequency parameter for one value of the
internal material length scale parameter ( ) and two plate aspect ratios.

Table 3 Fundamental frequency parameter for intact orthotropic plate considering the effect
of microstructure

Frequency parameter 2 ( = 0.0005 m)

Present Ref.[31]
Boundary Condition L1/L2=1 L1/L2=2 L1/L2=1 L1/L2=2
SSSS 11.06 17.36 11.06 17.35
CCSS 17.28 26.70 17.28 26.69
CCFF 3.71 5.56 3.71 5.58

Fig. 6(a) shows the variation of the fundamental frequency of intact SSSS orthotropic plate
with various fibre orientations and internal material length scale parameter. It is clearly seen
that the frequency increases with an increase in fibre orientation up to 450 and is symmetric
about it. Such an observation is evident in literature (Ref. [33]). The fact that the frequency
is maximum for 450 is due to the coefficients of mutual influence (mx and my) which are
maximum for 450 (Ref. [43]) as seen from Eq. (7) and Eq. (8). Similarly with an increase in
internal material length scale parameter ( ) the fundamental frequency
increases owing to the contribution of microstructure to the bending rigidity. Thus the
frequencies from the modified couple stress theory ( are higher than the classical
plate theory ( . This is in line with the available literature [38]. Fig. 6(b) shows the
fundamental frequencies for cracked square SSSS orthotropic plate with half crack length
a = 0.01m. The observation for intact plate from Fig. 6(a) that the frequencies from the
modified couple stress theory are more than the classical plate theory is found to be true for
cracked plate also as is seen from Fig. 6(b). It is also seen that in case of cracked plate, the
fundamental frequencies are not symmetric about 450 which is in fact true from physical
understanding as the frequency must be least when the fibre orientation is 900 for which the
crack is across the fibres. Such least frequency for 900 fibre orientation is evident in recent
literature (Ref. [30]).

20
Fig. 6. Variation of fundamental frequency of SSSS orthotropic plate with fibre orientation and internal
material
Bose et al. length scale
[34] presented parameter,model
an analytical (a) intact plate andanalysis
for vibration (b) cracked plate (a =
of isotropic 0.01m).
plate with

21
Fig. 7. Variation of fundamental frequency of CCSS orthotropic plate with fibre orientation and internal
material length scale parameter, (a) intact plate and (b) cracked plate (a = 0.01m).

Fig. 7 shows the variation of the fundamental frequency of intact and partially cracked (a
= 0.01m) CCSS orthotropic plate with various fibre orientations and internal material length
scale parameter. It is seen that the effect of fibre orientation on both the cracked and intact
CCSS plate is less when compared to the SSSS plate. It is interesting to note that the effect
of the internal material length scale parameter ( ) on the CCSS plate is more than the SSSS
plate showing the dependence of the size effect on the boundary conditions. Alike the SSSS
plate the frequency for CCSS boundary condition is maximum and symmetric about the
fibre orientation of 450. This is again due to the coefficients of mutual influence which are

22
maximum for this orientation. The presence of crack for all the fibre orientations decreases
the fundamental frequency for both the boundary conditions and its effect is more on CCSS
plate as compared to SSSS boundary condition. Such a phenomenon is found to be true for
partially cracked isotropic plate in recent literature [29].
Bose et al. [34] presented an analytical model based on the classical plate theory for the
vibration analysis of isotropic plate with crack located at an arbitrary location along the line
of symmetry. The present analytical model reduces to the one proposed by Bose et al. [34]
when material properties are changed to isotropic and crack depth to plate thickness is taken
as 0.7. For the purpose of validation of present model with offset crack, the isotropic
material properties taken are =2660kg/m3, =0.33, E=7.03x1010 N/m2. The geometry of
the plate is defined as L1=L2=1m. The results are shown in the form of non dimensional

frequency parameter . The half crack length is assumed constant as 0.2m. It

can be seen from Table 4 that when the crack is offset from d = 0 to 0.2, the results
produced by the present model are in agreement with the one presented by Bose et al. [34].

Table 4 Fundamental frequency parameter for square SSSS isotropic plate with arbitrarily
located partial crack.

Frequency parameter 3
d present Ref. [34]
0 18.21 18.18
0.1 18.50 18.24
0.2 18.74 18.28

The results for fundamental frequency of cracked plate based on the classical plate theory
( ) and the modified couple stress theory ( > 0) as affected by fibre orientation and
crack length are shown in Table 5 for SSSS boundary condition. Similar results for the
CCSS boundary condition are shown in Table 6. It is seen that for a square plate and for
both the boundary conditions, the fundamental frequencies are augmented by the fibre
orientation and are maximum for 450. This observation is same as that of the intact plate.
For the fibre orientation of 450, the values of the coefficients of mutual influence are
maximum [43] which increases the stiffness of the plate as seen from Eq. (49). As the fibre
orientation increases further, the frequencies decrease as a result of decrease in coupling of
normal and shear stress which decreases the values of the influence coefficients. For a plate
of aspect ratio 0.5, the effect of fibre orientation is to decrease the fundamental frequency

23
owing to increase in fibre length. Table 5 and Table 6 also shows that the increase in length
of crack for a given fibre orientation and aspect ratio decreases the fundamental frequencies,
a phenomenon found in literature (Refs [26], [30] and [28]). Comparing the fundamental
frequencies based on the classical plate theory ( = 0) and the modified couple stress theory
( > 0) for both the boundary conditions, it is seen that the increase in single internal
material length scale parameter increases the frequencies owing to the contribution of
microstructure to the bending rigidity. It can also be concluded that for a given crack length
and aspect ratio the effect of increase in length scale parameter is dependent on fibre
orientation. The effect of increase in internal material length scale parameter is least for the
fibre orientation of 450. The effect of crack length and fibre orientation is more pronounced
on the SSSS boundary condition as compared to the CCSS plate.

24
Table 5 Variation of fundamental frequency parameter for cracked SSSS orthotropic plate
with fibre orientation and microstructure

Frequency parameter 1 for cracked SSSS orthotropic plate

CPT ( =0) MCST
=0 = 0.0005 = 0.001 = 0.003
a
L1/L2
1 0.5 1 0.5 1 0.5 1 0.5
0 0 20.03 73.45 20.14 73.88 20.48 75.17 23.76 87.72
15 21.85 72.34 21.92 72.63 22.16 73.52 24.52 82.38
30 25.08 68.50 25.14 68.70 25.31 69.29 27.04 75.33
45 26.55 61.02 26.60 61.16 26.75 61.57 28.29 65.86
60 25.08 49.88 25.14 50.00 25.31 50.36 27.04 53.99
75 21.85 37.63 21.92 37.77 22.16 38.18 24.52 42.35
90 20.03 31.43 20.14 31.62 20.48 32.16 23.76 37.45
0.01 0 19.89 73.39 20.00 73.82 20.33 75.11 23.57 87.64
15 21.61 72.19 21.68 72.48 21.91 73.37 24.21 82.19
30 24.84 68.31 24.89 68.51 25.06 69.10 26.75 75.10
45 26.32 60.81 26.37 60.95 26.51 61.37 28.01 65.62
60 24.83 49.65 24.88 49.77 25.05 50.12 26.75 53.72
75 21.41 37.28 21.48 37.42 21.71 37.83 24.00 41.94
90 18.86 30.65 18.96 30.83 19.27 31.36 22.33 36.51
0.05 0 19.59 73.26 19.69 73.69 20.02 74.98 23.18 87.48
15 21.21 71.95 21.29 72.24 21.50 73.12 23.71 81.89
30 24.46 68.02 24.51 68.21 24.67 68.80 26.28 74.76
45 25.93 60.47 25.98 60.61 26.12 61.02 27.55 65.23
60 24.34 49.22 24.39 49.33 24.55 49.68 26.17 53.21
75 20.44 36.52 20.51 36.66 20.72 37.05 22.86 41.05
90 15.94 28.84 16.03 29.01 16.28 29.50 18.79 34.32
0.1 0 19.43 73.20 19.54 73.63 19.86 74.91 22.98 87.40
15 21.05 71.85 21.12 72.14 21.34 73.02 23.50 81.77
30 24.31 67.90 24.36 68.10 24.51 68.68 26.10 74.62
45 25.77 60.33 25.81 60.47 25.95 60.87 27.35 65.06
60 24.10 49.01 24.15 49.12 24.31 49.46 25.89 52.96
75 19.91 36.12 19.98 36.25 20.18 36.64 22.24 40.57
90 14.06 27.79 14.14 27.94 14.35 28.42 16.49 33.05

25
 Table 6 Variation of fundamental frequency parameter for cracked CCSS orthotropic plate
with fibre orientation and microstructure

Frequency parameter 1
CPT ( =0) MCST
=0 = 0.0005 = 0.001 = 0.003
a
L1/L2
1 0.5 1 0.5 1 0.5 1 0.5
0 0 31.30 116.74 31.48 117.44 32.02 119.51 36.85 139.64
15 32.56 112.95 32.69 113.43 33.07 114.85 37.30 129.08
30 34.95 102.28 35.04 102.60 35.31 103.56 38.04 113.28
45 36.09 86.73 36.16 86.96 36.39 87.63 38.77 94.47
60 34.95 69.39 35.04 69.58 35.31 70.14 37.30 75.89
75 32.56 54.57 32.69 54.80 33.07 55.47 37.30 62.19
90 31.30 48.34 31.48 48.64 32.02 49.52 36.85 58.08
0.01 0 31.08 116.66 31.26 117.36 31.79 119.42 36.40 139.53
15 32.21 112.77 32.33 113.25 32.70 114.67 37.01 128.86
30 34.56 102.04 34.65 102.36 34.91 103.32 37.57 113.00
45 35.71 86.46 35.78 86.69 36.01 87.35 38.32 94.16
60 34.53 69.06 34.62 69.25 34.88 69.81 37.55 75.52
75 31.84 54.04 31.97 54.26 32.33 54.93 36.01 61.58
90 29.38 47.08 29.55 47.36 30.06 48.22 34.99 56.56
0.05 0 30.62 116.50 30.80 117.19 31.32 119.25 35.67 139.32
15 31.62 112.48 31.74 112.96 32.10 114.37 36.43 128.49
30 33.97 101.68 34.05 102.00 34.30 102.95 36.85 112.57
45 35.07 86.01 35.14 86.23 35.36 86.89 37.57 93.64
60 33.72 68.44 33.81 68.63 34.05 69.18 36.61 74.80
75 30.26 52.90 30.38 53.12 30.72 53.76 34.17 60.25
90 24.61 44.14 24.75 44.42 25.16 45.22 29.22 53.06
0.1 0 30.38 116.41 30.56 117.11 31.07 119.16 35.36 139.21
15 31.38 112.37 31.50 112.84 31.85 114.25 36.13 128.35
30 33.73 101.54 33.81 101.86 34.06 102.80 36.56 112.40
45 34.80 85.82 34.87 86.04 35.08 86.70 37.25 93.42
60 33.33 68.15 33.41 68.33 33.66 68.87 36.15 74.46
75 29.39 52.28 29.50 52.49 29.83 53.13 33.14 59.53
90 21.50 42.43 21.62 42.69 21.97 43.46 25.45 51.01

Table 7 and Table 8 shows the effect of fibre orientation, location of crack ( and internal
material length scale parameter on the fundamental frequencies of SSSS and CCSS plate
respectively. Here the half crack length is taken as 0.2 m, whereas the aspect ratio is L1/L2 =
1. It can be seen from the Table 7 and Table 8 that for a given fibre orientation and for both
the CPT = 0) and MCST > 0), as the crack moves away from the centre, the frequency
parameter increases, which is indeed true as similar trend is obtained by Bose et al. [34] for
an isotropic plate. The defect in the form of crack when located at the centre of the plate

26
( ) affects the fundamental frequency maximally, such a phenomenon is evident in
literature. (Refs. [45], [26] and [34]). The increase in fibre orientation for a given internal
material length scale parameter and crack location increases the fundamental frequency. This
is due to the coefficients of mutual influence whose values increase as the fibre orientation
increases. It can also be concluded from Table 7 and Table 8 that the increase in internal
material length scale parameter increases the frequency. This observation for the cracked
plate is found to be same as that of the intact plate. The incorporation of internal material
length scale parameter increases the bending rigidity due to couple stress. An important
conclusion is that the effect of increase in frequency parameter due to increase in fibre
orientation is dependent on the location of the crack. When the crack is centrally located, the
effect of fibre orientation on the frequency is less than for the crack located away from the
centre. This is due to the known fact that the stiffness is minimum when the crack is located
at the centre. For both the boundary conditions, it is observed that the dependence of
frequency on fibre orientation is more pronounced than the effect of crack location ( and
microstructure .

Table 7 Fundamental frequency parameter for SSSS orthotropic plate with arbitrarily located
crack
Frequency parameter 1
CPT MCST

=0 = 0.0005 = 0.001 = 0.003
0 0 19.46 19.57 19.88 23.02
15 21.08 21.15 21.36 23.53
30 24.33 24.38 24.54 26.13
45 25.79 25.84 25.98 27.39
60 24.14 24.19 24.35 25.94
75 20.00 20.07 20.28 22.35
90 14.41 14.49 14.71 16.92
0.1 0 19.59 19.70 20.03 23.19
15 21.22 21.29 21.51 23.72
30 24.46 24.52 24.67 26.29
45 25.94 25.99 26.13 27.56
60 24.35 24.40 24.56 26.18
75 20.47 20.54 20.75 22.89
90 16.02 16.11 16.37 18.89
0.2 0 19.64 19.75 20.07 23.25
15 21.27 21.35 21.57 23.79
30 24.51 24.57 24.72 26.35
45 25.99 26.04 26.18 27.62
60 24.42 24.47 24.63 26.27
75 20.62 20.69 20.90 23.07
90 16.52 16.61 16.87 19.49

27
 Table 8 Fundamental frequency parameter for CCSS orthotropic plate with arbitrarily located
crack
Frequency parameter 1
CPT MCST

=0 = 0.0005 = 0.001 = 0.003
0 0 30.42 30.60 31.12 35.41
15 31.42 31.54 31.89 36.18
30 33.77 33.85 34.09 36.61
45 34.84 34.91 35.13 37.31
60 33.40 33.48 33.72 36.23
75 29.54 29.65 29.98 33.32
90 22.08 22.20 22.57 26.15
0.1 0 30.63 30.81 31.33 35.68
15 31.64 31.76 32.11 36.44
30 33.98 34.06 34.31 36.87
45 35.08 35.16 35.37 37.59
60 33.74 33.82 34.07 36.63
75 30.30 30.42 30.76 34.21
90 24.74 24.88 25.30 29.38
0.2 0 30.70 30.88 31.40 35.78
15 31.71 31.83 32.19 36.53
30 34.06 34.14 34.39 36.96
45 35.17 35.24 35.46 37.69
60 33.86 33.94 34.19 36.77
75 30.55 30.67 31.01 34.50
90 25.55 25.70 26.13 30.36

8. Peak Amplitude
Employing the method of multiple scales, the effect of fibre orientation, crack length, crack
location and internal material length scale parameter on the peak amplitude of the vibrating
plate is examined for a point lateral load of 10 N at a location (0.375,0.75). Again in order to
validate the results for peak amplitude, a comparison has been made with the recent results
presented by Joshi et al. [30] based on the classical plate theory. Table 9 shows such a
comparison for a square orthotropic plate with 00 fibre orientation and various half crack
lengths a. It is seen that the present results are in exact agreement for all the three boundary
conditions as the present model reduces to that presented by Joshi et al. [30] for = 0 and =
00.
The effect of fibre orientation and increase in centrally located crack length on the peak
amplitude for an orthotropic square plate based on the classical plate theory ( = 0) is shown

28
in Table 10. It can be seen that for a given crack length as the fibre orientation increases, the
peak amplitude decreases owing to increase in the stiffness of the plate. Also for a given fibre
orientation, the peak amplitude increases with increase in crack length, a phenomenon found
in literature (Refs. [26] and [30]). It can also be concluded that for a given crack length, the
effect of fibre orientation on the peak amplitude is more pronounced on the SSSS plate as
compared to the CCSS plate.
Table 9 Peak amplitude for various half crack length, L1/L2 = 1, = 00

=0 = 0.01 = 0.05
Boundary Present Present Present
Conditions ( ) Ref. [30] ( ) Ref. [30] ( ) Ref. [30]
SSSS 25.16 25.16 25.34 25.34 25.73 25.73
CCFF 15.47 15.47 15.58 15.58 15.80 15.80
CCSS 33.06 33.06 33.3 33.3 33.79 33.79

Table 10 Peak amplitude as affected by half crack lengths and fibre orientation, = 0, = 0.

Boundary

Conditions 0 0.01 0.05
SSSS 0 25.16 25.34 25.73
15 23.07 23.33 23.76
30 20.09 20.29 20.61
45 18.98 19.15 19.43
60 20.09 20.30 20.71
75 23.07 23.55 24.66
90 25.16 26.73 31.61
CCSS 0 33.06 33.30 33.80
15 31.78 32.13 32.72
30 29.61 29.93 30.47
45 28.68 28.98 29.51
60 29.61 29.97 30.69
75 31.78 32.50 34.20
90 33.06 35.22 42.05

The effect of fibre orientation and arbitrary crack location ( ) for a given half crack length of
a = 0.2 m on the peak amplitude for a square plate based on the classical plate theory ( = 0)
is shown in Table 11. It is observed that for a given fibre orientation, as the crack moves
away from the centre of the plate with increase in , the peak amplitude decreases owing to
increase in stiffness of the plate. This observation is also true for a given crack location and
increase in fibre orientation. The effect of the microstructure ( ) and fibre orientation on the

29
peak amplitude of a square orthotropic plate containing a centrally located crack of length
a= 0.1m is shown in Table 12. It can be concluded from Table 12 that as the internal
material length scale parameter and fibre orientation increases, the peak amplitude decreases.

Table 11 Effect of crack location ( ) and fibre orientation on the peak amplitude, = 0, a
= 0.2 m.

Boundary

Conditions 0 0.1 0.2
SSSS 0 25.90 25.72 25.66
15 23.91 23.75 23.69
30 20.72 20.60 20.56
45 19.54 19.43 19.39
60 20.88 20.70 20.64
75 25.20 24.63 24.44
90 34.97 31.45 30.52
CCSS 0 34.01 33.78 33.71
15 32.93 32.71 32.63
30 30.64 30.46 30.39
45 29.70 29.49 29.42
60 30.98 30.70 30.56
75 35.03 34.15 33.87
90 46.87 41.82 40.49

Table 12 Effect of fibre orientation and internal material length scale parameter on the
peak amplitude, a = 0.1 m, = 0.

Boundary

Conditions 0 0.0005 0.001 0.003
SSSS 0 25.94 25.80 25.38 21.93
15 23.94 23.86 23.62 21.45
30 20.74 20.69 20.56 19.31
45 19.56 19.53 19.42 18.42
60 20.91 20.87 20.73 19.46
75 25.31 25.22 24.97 22.67
90 35.84 35.65 35.11 30.56
CCSS 0 34.06 33.86 33.30 29.27
15 32.97 32.85 32.49 28.64
30 30.68 30.61 30.39 28.30
45 29.74 29.68 29.49 27.78
60 31.05 30.97 30.75 28.62
75 35.21 35.08 34.69 31.22
90 48.13 47.86 47.09 40.66

30
Using Eq (52), geometrically linear (=0) and geometrically nonlinear (<0, soft spring and > 0,
hard spring) response curves are plotted for a square orthotropic plate of side 1 m. Fig. 8
shows such frequency response curves based on the classical plate theory for centrally
located half crack length, a = 0.1 m and various fibre orientations for SSSS and CCSS
boundary conditions. It can be seen that the linear curves are symmetric about the resonant
frequency and the non linear curves bend either left or right depending on whether it is hard
or soft spring. The non linear curve bends towards right for both SSSS and CCSS boundary
conditions showing the bending hardening phenomenon. The nonlinear curve for both the
boundary conditions for the fibre orientation of 00 is in agreement with Ref. [30]. It is seen
that the nonlinearity is affected by the fibre orientation and the bending hardening decreases
with the increase in fibre orientation from 00 to 450. It can also be noted that the nonlinearity
of bending hardening is more for SSSS boundary condition when compared to the CCSS
plate.

Fig. 9 shows the frequency response curves for a cracked orthotropic plate with fibre
orientation of 450 based on the classical plate theory = 0) as affected by crack location .
Fig 10 shows similar response curves based on the modified couple stress theory ( = 0.003
m) as affected by crack location . It can be noted that as the location of crack moves
away from the centre the curves bend more towards right showing an increase in hardening.
Similarly, comparing the nonlinear curves based on the classical and the couple stress theory
from Fig. 9 and Fig. 10 it is seen that the microstructure affects the nonlinearity thereby
increasing the bending hardening. This increase in bending hardening is because of
contribution of the internal material length scale parameter towards bending rigidity.

31
Fig. 8. Linear and nonlinear response curves for cracked orthotropic plate as affected by fibre
orientation for centrally located crack = 0), a = 0.1 m and = 0.

32
Fig. 9. Linear and nonlinear response curves for orthotropic plate with arbitrarily located crack and
, a = 0.2 m, = 450.

33
Fig. 10. Linear and nonlinear response curves for orthotropic plate with arbitrarily located crack and
m, a = 0.2 m, = 450.

34
9. Conclusions

An analytical model for non-linear vibration analysis of orthotropic rectangular plate with
arbitrarily located crack and various fibre orientations is proposed by combining the modified
couple stress theory and the classical plate theory. The analytical model is efficient in
computation when compared to FEM models and has obvious advantage of improving the
physical understanding of the problem. The fibre orientation is incorporated in the equation
of motion in the form of coefficient of mutual influence which represents the coupling of
shear and normal stresses and in order to capture the size effect, a single internal material
length scale parameter is considered. It is concluded that the fundamental frequencies
increases with the increase in fibre orientation and also when the crack moves away from the
centre of the plate. The results obtained from modified couple stress theory are higher than
those from the classical plate theory which shows the contribution of internal material length
scale parameter towards bending rigidity. The effect of geometric nonlinearity in the
frequency response as affected by arbitrary location of crack, internal material length scale
parameter and fibre orientation is presented using the method of multiple scales. It is also
concluded that the effect of microstructure is dependent on the fibre orientation and boundary
condition. It is imperative to extend the present model to multiple line or curved cracks using
some shear deformation theory.

Acknowledgement

This work is not funded by any organisation.

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39
 Captions of Tables

Table 1 Fundamental frequency parameter for intact orthotropic square SSSS plate
Table 2 Fundamental frequency parameter for cracked orthotropic square plate
Table 3 Fundamental frequency parameter for intact orthotropic plate considering the effect
of microstructure
Table 4 Fundamental frequency parameter for square SSSS isotropic plate with arbitrarily
located partial crack.
Table 5 Variation of fundamental frequency parameter for cracked SSSS orthotropic plate
with fibre orientation and microstructure
Table 6 Variation of fundamental frequency parameter for cracked CCSS orthotropic plate
with fibre orientation and microstructure
Table 7 Fundamental frequency parameter for SSSS orthotropic plate with arbitrarily located
crack
Table 8 Fundamental frequency parameter for CCSS orthotropic plate with arbitrarily located
crack
Table 9 Peak amplitude for various half crack length, L1/L2 = 1, = 00
Table 10 Peak amplitude as affected by half crack lengths and fibre orientation, = 0, = 0.
Table 11 Effect of crack location ( ) and fibre orientation on the peak amplitude, = 0, a
= 0.2 m
Table 12 Effect of fibre orientation and internal material length scale parameter on the
peak amplitude, a = 0.1 m, =0

40
 Captions of Figures

Fig. 1. Orthotropic lamina showing fibre orientation and a partial crack located at the centre
of the plate.
Fig. 2. Orthotropic lamina showing fibre orientation and arbitrarily located partial crack.
Fig. 3. Orthotropic lamina with four elasticity constants (E1, E2, Ex, Ey).
Fig. 4. Orthotropic plate element showing moments and internal forces on the middle surface
considering the internal material length scale parameter.
Fig. 5. Equilibrium of the in-plane forces along z axis for the cracked orthotropic plate.
Fig. 6. Variation of fundamental frequency of SSSS orthotropic plate with fibre orientation
and internal material length scale parameter, (a) intact plate and (b) cracked plate (a =
0.01m).
Fig. 7. Variation of natural frequency of CCSS orthotropic plate with fibre angle orientation
and internal material length scale parameter, (a) intact plate and (b) cracked plate (a =
0.01m).
Fig. 8. Linear and nonlinear response curves for cracked orthotropic plate as affected by fibre
orientation for centrally located crack = 0), a = 0.1 m and = 0.
Fig. 9. Linear and nonlinear response curves for orthotropic plate with arbitrarily located
crack and , a = 0.2m, = 450.
Fig. 10. Linear and nonlinear response curves for orthotropic plate with arbitrarily located
crack and a = 0.2 m, = 450.

41
 Crack depth
2a
L2
Fibres

y
z,w

Fig. 1. Orthotropic lamina showing fibre orientation and a partial crack located at the centre of the
plate.

42
Crack depth
2a
L2
Fibres
d

h

y
z,w

Fig. 2. Orthotropic lamina showing fibre orientation and arbitrarily located partial crack.

43
 y

2 1

Fig. 3. Orthotropic lamina with four elasticity constants (E1, E2, Ex, Ey).

44
 o
x
dx
y

z,w
Qy
My* + My
Qx Crack of length 2a
Myx*
Mxy*

dy Mx*

Pz

Plate middle surface

Fig. 4. Orthotropic plate element showing moments and internal forces on the middle surface
considering the internal material length scale parameter.

45
 dx

(Ny + Ny )dx
Nyxdx

Nxydy

dy

( )

Crack of length 2a

( )

(b)
Fig. 5. Equilibrium of the in-plane forces along z axis for the cracked orthotropic plate.

46
Fig. 6. Variation of fundamental frequency of SSSS orthotropic plate with fibre orientation and internal
material length scale parameter, (a) intact plate and (b) cracked plate (a = 0.01m).

47
Fig. 7. Variation of natural frequency of CCSS orthotropic plate with fibre angle orientation and
internal material length scale parameter, (a) intact plate and (b) cracked plate (a = 0.01m).

48
Fig. 8. Linear and nonlinear response curves for cracked orthotropic plate as affected by fibre
orientation for centrally located crack = 0), a = 0.1 m and = 0.

49
Fig. 9. Linear and nonlinear response curves for orthotropic plate with arbitrarily located crack and
, a = 0.2m, = 450.

50
Fig. 10. Linear and nonlinear response curves for orthotropic plate with arbitrarily located crack
and m, a = 0.2 m, = 450.

51
 Highlights

Vibration characteristics of cracked orthotropic micro plate is presented.

Effect of fibre orientation, crack location and microstructure is analysed.
A single internal material length scale parameter captures the microstructure.
Linear and Non Linear frequency response curves are drawn.
Result shows fibre orientation, crack location & microstructure affects frequency.

52