Vibration Localization in a Fluid-loaded Rectangular Plate with Rib Irregularity

This paper studies the vibration localization of fluid-loaded irregularly ribbed plate analytically. The modal expansion method was adopted to solve the multi-coupled system, the ribs were considered as Timoshenko beams attached to the plate. The localization mechanism was investigated by comparing different coupling effect at the plate-beam interface, it was found the ribs space irregularity only localize the modes associated with the shear force coupling. Both the light and heavy fluid loading pressure were concerned by Rayleigh integral, the study showed that obvious vibration localization phenomenon can be achieved by the ribs space irregularity, and the localization effect was weakened by the long range interaction through the heavy fluid, although the response amplitude of the modes decreased obviously. The investigation may be quite significant for vibration confinement and noise control in engineering.