Computation of natural frequencies and initial buckling stresses of prismatic plate assemblies

Abstract Many structures consist of a set of thin rectangular flat plates of uniform thickness which are rigidly connected together along their longitudinal edges. Two computer programs which are applicable to such structures are described. They are called gasvip and vipal and they use an exact method of analysis, either to find natural frequencies in the presence of uniform longitudinal stress, or to find the initial buckling stress in uniform longitudinal compression. Gasvip sets up the overall stiffness matrix of the structure, whereas vipal enables substructures to be used. There are some types of problem which cannot be solved by using Vipal , but where it can be used it often takes much less computer time than gasvip . vipal also has the advantage that there is virtually no limit on the number of nodes (i.e., line junctions between component plates) which can be handled within about 4K of core store.