Non-linear vibrations of a clamped circular plate with initial deflection and initial edge displacement, part II: Experiment

Abstract To compare with the theoretical results of Part I, detailed experimental results have been obtained on the non-linear response of a clamped circular plate under a uniformly distributed periodic load, which is subjected to various initial edge displacements. An aluminum test specimen with radius 100 mm and thickness 0·51 mm was used and tests were conducted by shaking the supporting frame with a constant peak acceleration and measuring the relative displacement of the plate to the frame. For the steady state axisymmetric periodic responses, the theoretical results are found to be in good agreement with the experimental ones, with the exception of some quantitative differences in the large amplitude vibrations. Besides the responses theoretically predicted, a variety of non-axisymmetric and non-periodic responses were observed in connection with the internal resonance, combination resonance and dynamic snap-through phenomena, for which the present experimental results seem to provide effective data facilitating further theoretical analyses.