Free Vibration Analysis of Pre-stressed

Membrane Using Element Free Galerkin

Method

K. R. Unnikrishnan1 , I. R. Praveen Krishna2(B) , and C. O. Arun2

1
Tata Consultancy Services, Pune, India
2
Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, India
praveenkrishna@iist.ac.in

Abstract. Vibration analysis of pre-stressed membrane is studied using

element free Galerkin method (EFGM). The discrete system of equa-
tions is derived from the governing equations of thin plates with in-
plane loads, by incorporating the moving least square interpolations into
the variational weak form. Essential boundary conditions are applied
using scaled transformation method. A bi-axially pre-stressed homoge-
neous membrane is analyzed using EFGM and results obtained are com-
pared with that obtained from a commercial finite element package and
also with the analytical solutions. A convergence study of the frequency
obtained using EFGM is compared with that obtained using different
element types in finite element method (FEM), for different modes. It is
observed that, both FEM and EFGM show satisfactory results in lower
modes of vibration, and in higher modes EFGM gives better results com-
pared to FEM.

Keywords: Element free Galerkin method (EFGM) ·

Finite element method (FEM) · Moving least square (MLS) ·
Scaled transformation method

1 Introduction
Thin membranes are widely used in various applications in aerospace, mechani-
cal and civil engineering industry. Major application of membranes include sun-
shields, solar sails, antennae, parachutes, balloons etc. Its light weight and low
space requirement, so that it can be folded and deployed whenever needed, makes
it suitable for various aerospace applications. In most of these applications, mem-
brane elements are used with pre-tensioning to take transverse loads, shear loads
or vibratory loads and to have sufficient smoothness and flatness. Moreover,
there are a number of musical instruments, especially percussion instruments,
whose performance depends on the vibration of stretched membranes. A study
on vibration of initially stretched or pre-stressed membrane is thus very impor-
tant as these structural elements are open to vibratory loads.

c Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

S. C. Satapathy et al. (Eds.): ICETE 2019, LAIS 2, pp. 542–550, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24314-2_65
 Free Vibration Analysis Using EFGM 543

The membrane problems can be solved by incorporating the bending stiffness,

though it is negligible, using thin plate theory with in-plane forces [1,2]. Detailed
discussions on vibration of pre-stressed thin plates are available on literature [3–
5]. Kukathasan and Pellegrino [6] analyzed vibration of pre-stressed collapsible
rib-tensioned surface (CRTS) reflector using finite element method(FEM) for dif-
ferent hub diameters, different pre-stress and structure dimensions. Two different
approaches to solve the problem, using a truss element [7,8] and a membrane
element in ABAQUS [9] have been used. A study on the vibration behavior
of various simple pre-stressed membrane structures using ABAQUS also have
been carried out and compared the first mode frequency with analytical solu-
tion. However comparison of higher modes are missing in the literature. Most of
the elements which are commonly used by commercial software for plate/shell
modelling are nonconforming elements [10] and hence incompatible to capture
the higher modes and frequencies accurately [2].
The selection of suitable numerical tool for these kinds of structural analy-
ses is also very important. Most of the practical problems are currently solved
using FEM with commercially available software packages. However at high fre-
quency modes in vibration analysis, mesh dependency of FEM can lead to inaccu-
rate results, especially in thin membranes. A method to avoid these difficulties
is to develop a new method without discretizing the problem domain to ele-
ments or meshes. Meshless methods are developed with this objective, wherein
a set of nodes (field nodes) scattered on the problem domain and its bound-
aries, are used to represent the problem domain and its boundary. As there are
no meshes involved in this method, the mesh dependency of vibration analysis
can be avoided and thus one should be able to capture the higher modes more
accurately.
There are a number of meshless methods proposed in the literature. Among
these meshless methods, the element free Galerkin method (EFGM) proposed
by Belytschko is particularly simple and has faster rate of convergence [11,12].
Krysl et al. [13] introduced EFGM to the bending analysis of thin plates using
Kirchhoff thin plate theory and have extended the same to the analysis of thin
shells [14]. Tiago et al. [15] analyzed free vibration of beams and plates using
EFGM. However, vibration analysis of pre-stressed membranes using EFGM or
any other meshless methods is missing in the available literature.
In the present study, EFGM is proposed for vibration analysis of pre-stressed
membranes. A bi-axially pre-stressed homogeneous membrane [1] is considered.
The result obtained is compared with analytical results as well as the results
from a FEM package using different element type and size.

2 Vibration of Stretched Thin Membranes

In the present work, for modeling, membrane theory with small bending stiffness
is considered [2]. An isotropic, non-homogeneous, elastic, thin membranes with
in-plane load is considered for analysis. Kirchoff’s thin plate theory assumptions
are used to get the mathematical model for the same.
544 K. R. Unnikrishnan et al.

For the thin plate described above, energy balance equation [16] can be
written as,

  ∂w 2   ∂ 2 w
1 1 ∂ 2 w 2  ∂ 2 w 2
ρh dxdy = D ++2(1 − ν)
2 A ∂t 2 A ∂x2 ∂y 2 ∂x∂y
2 2     2  ∂w 2 
∂ w∂ w 1 ∂w
− 2 2
dxdy + Fx + Fy dxdy,
∂x ∂y 2 A ∂x ∂y
(1)

where ∂w∂t is the time derivative of displacement vector. Fx and Fy are in plane
loads in x and y direction. h is thickness of plate, ρ is mass density per unit area
of the plate material in N/m2 .
D is the flexural rigidity given by,

Eh3
D= , (2)
12(1 − ν 2 )

where E is modulus of elasticity, and ν is Poisson’s ratio.

Equation 1 can be used for setting up discretized system of equations as
explained in the forthcoming sections.

3 EFGM Formulation
In EFGM, the function approximation is done using MLS [11]. Unknown field
variable wh (x) can be given as,


m
h
w (x) = pi (x)ai (x) = pT (x)a(x). (3)
i=1

Using Kirchhoff’s plate assumption

 to model thin membrane, a quadratic basis
function, pT (x) 1 x y x2 xy y 2 is used and a(x) = [a1 (x), a2 (x) . . . .am (x)] are
the unknown coefficients which depends on the position x.
The unknown coefficients at any point x, are determined by performing a
weighted least square fit of the local approximation, which in turn is determined
by minimizing the difference between local approximation at that point and
nodal parameters [17]. A support domain or domain of influence is considered
such that the weight function chosen has finite value inside this domain and has
a value zero outside. Weight function of cubic type [18] is used here.
In the case of thin plate vibration, considering three degree of freedom per
node, L2 norm can be defined as,

n  
J= W (x − xi ) [pT (xi )a(x) − wi ]2 + [pT,y (xi )a(x) − θxi ]2 + [pT,x (xi )a(x) − θyi ]2 ,
i
(4)
 Free Vibration Analysis Using EFGM 545

where W is the weight function define over a for rectangular support domain
n is the number of nodes inside domain of influence and θx , θy are rotation
in x, y direction respectively. By minimizing the L2 norm respect to unknown
coefficients aj and representing the set of equations obtained in matrix form as,

A(x)a(x)= C(x). (5)

A(x) is called the weighted moment matrix [18] defined by,

n

A(x) = W (x − xi )[p(xi )pT (xi ) + p,y (xi )pT,y (xi ) + p,x (xi )pT,x (xi )] (6)
i=1

C(x) is given by,

C(x) = Cw w + Cθx θx + Cθy θy , (7)

From Eqs. 5 and 7, a(x) can be obtained as,

a(x) = A(x)−1 [Cw w + Cθx θx + Cθy θy ]. (8)

Finally, substituting Eq. 8 in Eq. 3, the approximation function wh (x) can

be written as,

wh (x) = ΦTw (x)w + ΦTθx θx + ΦTθy θy

⎧ ⎫
  ⎨w⎬
= ΦTw ΦTθx ΦTθy θx (9)
⎩ ⎭
θy
= NT d.
However, due to the lack of Kronecker delta properties in EFGM, impos-
ing essential boundary conditions involves some additional complications. Here
scaled transformation method [12] is used, in which the displacement approxi-
mations given in Eq. 9 are scaled using a scaled transformation matrix, Λ in such
a way that, nodal values and nodal parameters will coincide along the nodes on
essential boundary. In scaled transformation method, an identity matrix say Λ
having number of rows and columns equal to the total degree of freedom is con-
structed. The rows corresponding to the degrees of freedom, in which boundary
conditions have to be applied, is then populated with shape functions associated
with it, so that Kronecker delta property will be satisfied on those degrees of
freedom.
Once, Λ is formed, the final discretized system of vibration equations for a
membrane pre-stressed in both x and y direction, is given by,

(K + Fx Kgx + Fy Kgy ) − λM d = 0, (10)
546 K. R. Unnikrishnan et al.

where K is modified stiffness matrix, Kgx , Kgy are modified geometric stiffness
matrices, and M is modified mass matrix respectively, given by,

K = Λ−T Kf ΛT
Kgx = Λ−T Kgx ΛT
(11)
Kgy = Λ−T Kgy ΛT
M = Λ−T MΛT ,

where Kf is stiffness matrix and Kgx and Kgy are geometric stiffness matrices
and M is the mass matrix, which can be found using shape function N similar to
that in FEM [10]. The sign of geometric stiffness terms in the equation depends
upon the direction of in-plane loads. The terms will be positive for stretching
and negative for compression. Consequently, the essential boundary conditions
can also be imposed simply by following FEM methodology.

4 Model Description
For the current study, a bi-axially pre-stressed homogeneous square membrane
of size 0.2 m × 0.2 m is considered. Thickness of membrane is taken as 0.1 mm.
The material for the study is assumed to be Kevlar-reinforced Kapton foil, which
is mainly is used in antenna for satellite applications. The material properties
are as given in Table 1. Simply supported boundary conditions are applied on
all the sides. 10 N/m2 load is applied on both x and y direction.

Table 1. Properties of membrane considered for study [6]

Parameter Membrane
Density (ρ) 790 kg/m3
Young’s Modulus (E) 11.9 × 109 N/m2
Poisson’s ratio (ν) 0.3

Analytical solution for natural frequencies of bi-axially pre-stressed homoge-

neous plates is given by [4],
  
  mπ 2  nπ 2 2  mπ 2  nπ 2
1  1
f= D + + Fx + Fy , (12)
2π ρ a b a b

where, f is the frequency, m, n are number of half sine waves in x, y direction

and a, b are length and width of membrane respectively.
The analysis is carried out using EFGM and FEM. In FEM, various ele-
ment types such as quadrilateral linear elements, S4, S4R, S4R5 and quadratic
 Free Vibration Analysis Using EFGM 547

elements, S8R, S8R5 are used for analysis in order to do a comparative study
[9]. For comparison, discretization in EFGM is done with regularly distributed
nodes, similar to that of linear element types (S4, S4R and S4R5) in FEM.
Figures 1, 2 and 3 shows the variation of frequencies obtained by EFGM and
FEM with number of nodes compared with analytical solutions. Three sets of
mode shapes (one lower 1st (m = n = 1), one intermediate 20th (m = n = 4)
and one higher 34th (m = n = 5)) and corresponding frequencies, are taken into
consideration for comparison. From Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the results obtained from
EFGM are found to be encouraging. It can be observed from mode 1 results
(Fig. 1) that, for initial modes, frequencies obtained from both EFGM and FEM
are closer to the analytical solution. Even with lower number of nodes, frequency
values obtained from EFGM and that from all the element types of FEM show
lower error.
For an intermediate mode with m = n = 4 (Fig. 2), FEM results with 4
noded linear elements (S4, S4R5, S4R), show variation from the analytical values.
However element type S8R, S8R5 and EFGM provide better results for higher
number of nodes. At lower number of nodes only EFGM and element type S8R5
show accurate results.
For the higher mode where m = n = 5 (Fig. 3), frequency values obtained
from FEM are showing considerable variation from the analytical results for less
number of nodes.
From Fig. 3 it is clear that, for higher modes, EFGM and element type S8R5
gives better accuracy than other element types in FEM. For lower number of
nodes, element type S8R5 also shows larger error, while EFGM shows very small
error value.

43
Analytical
EFGM
42.5 S4
S4R
S4R5
S8R5
42 S8R
Frequency

41.5

41

40.5

40
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Number of nodes

Fig. 1. Variation of mode 1 frequency with respect to number of nodes

548 K. R. Unnikrishnan et al.

255
Analytical
EFGM
250
S4
S4R
245 S4R5
S8R5
S8R
240
Frequency

235

230

225

220

215
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Number of nodes

Fig. 2. Variation of mode 20 frequency with respect to number of nodes

400
Analytical
EFGM
S4
S4R
S4R5
S8R5
350 S8R
Frequency

300

250
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Number of nodes

Fig. 3. Variation of mode 34 frequency with respect to number of nodes

To conclude, it is clear that EFGM provides very accurate results to the

problem for all modes even with lesser number of nodes, while FEM results shows
high variation depending upon element types and number of nodes considered.
 Free Vibration Analysis Using EFGM 549

5 Conclusion
The current paper discusses the use of EFGM, a meshless method, for free vibra-
tion of pre-stressed membranes. Classical plate formulation with three degrees of
freedom per node is considered for study. The results obtained from EFGM are
compared with the analytical solution and are found to be matching. Moreover,
the results are also compared with that of FEM with different types of elements
available, to show the mesh dependency of the problem under consideration.
Quadrilateral element types are considered for comparative purposes. From the
result it is found that EFGM is providing accurate result even in higher frequency
modes, with less number of nodes. However, in FEM frequencies obtained are
highly sensitive to the mesh size regardless of element types in FEM and shows
slower rate of convergence for higher modes when compared to EFGM.

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