Dynamic analysis of Mindlin plates on viscoelastic foundations under a moving vehicle by CS-MIN3 based on C0-type higher-order shear deformation theory

Abstract

A cell-based smoothed three-node Mindlin plate element (CS-MIN3) based on the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) was recently proposed to improve the performance of the existing three-node Mindlin plate element (MIN3) for static and dynamic analyses of Mindlin plates. In this paper, the CS-MIN3 is extended to the C0-type higher-order shear deformation plate theory (C0-HSDT) and incorporated with damping-spring systems for dynamic analyses of Mindlin plates on the viscoelastic foundation subjected to a moving vehicle. The plate-foundation system is modeled as a discretization of triangular plate elements supported by discrete springs and dashpots at the nodal points representing the viscoelastic foundation. A two-step process for transforming the weight of a four-wheel vehicle into loads at nodes of elements is presented. The accuracy and reliability of the proposed method is verified by comparing its numerical solutions with those of others available numerical results. A parametric examination is also conducted to determine the effects of various parameters on the dynamic response of the plates on the viscoelastic foundation subjected to the moving vehicle.