Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
The basis of the procedure described in the paper is the replacement of the stiffeners by an approximately equivalent system of line springs. One of two methods may then be used to determine the natural frequencies. A rectangular plate with edge stiffeners, point-supported at the four corners, is used to demonstrate the application of the Rayleigh-Ritz method. Numerical results obtained are compared with known approximate solutions based on finite difference equations. A Holzer-type iteration is employed in the case of a plate with parallel stiffeners, where the two edges perpendicular to the stiffeners are simply supported, the other two edges having any combination of conditions.