Modal Analysis of Thin Plate

Author Name: Indrayani Kulkarni

Abstract: The article deal with modal analysis, like natural frequencies and own mode shapes of thin plate. In the
first part of article the theory of modal analysis is given. Next part of article is a modal analysis of thin aluminium
(Al 99.9) isotropic plate with dimensions 0.10 × 0.10 × 0.002 m. The plate is fixed supported. The solution was
carried by Abaqus/CAE Student edition 2019 software for modal analysis. In the article the first ten natural
frequencies and first ten mode shapes of the plate deflection are presented.

Keyword: Modal analysis, thin aluminium plate, frequency.

Introduction:
One of the most important dynamic analyses is modal analysis. When there is no external force on structure, the
analysis would be modal case. Modal analysis is the study of the dynamic properties of systems in the
frequency domain. Modes are inherent properties of a structure and are determined by the material properties
(mass, damping, and stiffness), and boundary conditions of the structure. Each mode is defined by a natural
(modal or resonant) frequency, modal damping, and a mode shape. This is useful because for a structure to be
safe the excitation frequencies should not match the natural frequencies. Abaqus software is used to find out
various modes and natural frequency of thin plate. The plate is said to be thin if thickness to width ratio is less
than 0.1.

Problem statement:
The purpose is to modal analyse the thin plate of fixed support. The plate use is Aluminium (Al99.9)
isotropic plate with dimensions 0.10 × 0.10 × 0.002 m.

Procedure:
1. Open Abaqus software and go to ‘module ‘command then ‘Part’ option. Select ‘Create part’ option and
draw thin plate of required dimension.
2. Then go to ‘Property’ option then input mechanical property as ‘Elasticity’ ‘elastic ‘and create material by
assigning properties like density, Young's modulus and Poisson’s ratio and click ‘ok’. Then make it as
homogeneous and assign the ‘section module ‘by selecting particular job.
3. Then go to ‘Assembly module’ ‘create instance’ ‘independent’ ‘instance type’ ‘ok’.
4. Go to ‘Step module’ and select frequency in ‘linear perturbation’. Then assign the number of Eigen values
which is to be evaluated.
5. Then click on ‘Load module’ and apply boundary condition by using ‘create boundary condition’. Select
the surface to which boundary condition is to be applied. For fixed support choose (U1=U2=U3=0 Along
all axis) option.
6. Then mesh the object by using ‘Mesh module’. Select the part first, then create the size of mesh using ‘seed
part’ and apply it using ‘mesh part’.
7. In modal tree, expand the job container. Right click on job named ‘Job1’ and submit it.
8. In post processing, ‘visualization module’ allows to view results graphically and select the ‘results’ from
menu bar

Properties:
1. Density = 2.7E-06 kg/mm3
2. Young’s modulus = 6890 N/mm2
3. Poisson’s ratio = 0.3
 Dimensions:
1. Length = 100mm
2. Width = 100mm
3. Thickness = 2mm

Fig.1: A thin aluminium plate of dimensions 0.10 × 0.10 × 0.002 m

Results:

Fig2: modal shape 2

Fig 3: modal shape 3

Fig 4: modal shape 4

Fig 5: modal shape 5

Fig 6: modal shape 6

Conclusion:

Sr. no. Modal shape Frequency (cycles/time)

1 Modal shape 1 0.16976

2 Modal shape 2 1.0624

3 Modal shape 3 1.6519

4 Modal shape 4 2.9745

5 Modal shape 5 3.4578

6 Modal shape 6 4.9389

7 Modal shape 7 5.7262

8 Modal shape 8 5.0345

9 Modal shape 9 8.5024

10 Modal shape 10 8.6345

Thus modal analysis if thin plate is done.