Abstract: | The finite strip method is extended to the free vibration of rectangular plates continuous in one or two directions. A subroutine has been written for the computation of beam functions for continuous beams over any number of intermediate rigid supports and with simply supported or clamped end conditions. The standard finite strip method can thus be applied to plates continuous in both directions using the computed beam functions. The frequencies of 2 × 2 and 3 × 3 continuous panels with many different end conditions have been computed. The computations are also checked against published solutions and the accuracy is shown to be excellent. |