Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 August 2014
In this paper the transverse vibration characteristics of piezoceramic circular plates with V-notches are investigated theoretically through use of the Ritz's method incorporated with the defined equivalent constants. The Ritz's method is employed with two sets of admissible displacement functions, algebraic-trigonometric polynomials and corner functions, to guarantee convergence sufficiently and represent the stress singularity, respectively. Moreover, the equivalent constants derived by comparing the characteristic equations of transverse vibration between isotropic and piezoceramic disks are applied to suspend the electrical field consideration regarding the piezoelectricity. With the aid of theoretical analysis, the non-dimensional frequency parameters of transverse vibration modes for completely free V-notching circular plates are exhibited; in addition, the frequency variations depending on various notch angles and depths are explored. Numerical calculations using the finite element method (FEM) are performed and the results are compared with the theoretical analysis. It is shown that the resonant frequencies predicted by theoretical analysis and calculated by FEM are in good agreement.