Vibration of a Circular plate on Pasternak foundation with variable modulus due to moving mass

In this paper, the vibration of a moderately thick plate to a moving mass is investigated. Pasternak foundation with a variable subgrade modulus is considered to tackle the shortcomings of Winkler model, and an analytical-numerical solution is proposed based on the eigenfunction expansion method. Parametric studies by using both CPT (Classical Plate Theory) and FSDT (First-Order Shear Deformation Plate Theory) are carried out, and, the differences between them are also highlighted. The obtained results reveal that utilizing FSDT without considering the rotary inertia leads to a smaller deflection in comparison with CPT pertaining to a thin plate, while it demonstrates a greater response for plates of higher thicknesses. Moreover, it is shown that CPT is unable to properly capture the variation of the plate thickness, thereby diminishing the accuracy as the thickness increases. The outcomes also indicate that the presence of a foundation contributes more to the dynamic response of thin plates in comparison to moderately thick plates. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the performance of the moving force approach for a moderately thick plate, in contrast to a thin plate, appears to be acceptable and it even provides a much better estimation in the presence of a foundation.