Optimal locations of point supports in laminated rectangular plates for maximum fundamental frequency

This paper investigates the optimal locations of internal point supports in a symmetric crossply laminated rectangular plate for maximum fundamental frequency of vibration. The method used for solving this optimization problem involves the Rayleigh-Ritz method for the vibration analysis and the simplex method of Nelder and Mead for the iterative search of the optimum support locations. Being a continuum method, the Rayleigh-Ritz method allows easy handling of the changing point support locations during the optimization search. Rectangular plates of various boundary conditions, aspect ratios, composed of different numbers of layers, and with one, two and three internal point supports are analysed. The interesting results on the optimal locations of the point supports showed that (a) there are multiple solutions; (b) the locations are dependent on both the plate aspect ratios and the number of layers (c) the fundamental frequency may be raised significantly with appropriate positioning of the point supports.