Natural vibration of rectangular plates with an internal line hinge using the first order shear deformation plate theory

This paper presents exact solutions for vibration of rectangular plates with an internal line hinge. The rectangular plate is simply supported on two parallel edges and the remaining two edges may take any combination of support conditions. The line hinge is perpendicular to the two simply supported parallel edges. The Lévy type solution method and the state-space technique are employed in connection with the first order shear deformation plate theory (FSDT) to study natural vibration of rectangular plates with an internal line hinge. In particular, exact vibration frequencies are obtained for rectangular plates of different aspect ratios and edge support conditions. The influence of the internal line hinge on the vibration behavior of rectangular plates is studied.