Free vibration analysis of spherical caps using a G.D.Q. numerical solution

An effective numerical approximated procedure in solving the modal analysis of spherical caps is presented. The technique enlightened in this paper is the Generalized Differential Quadrature Method (G.D.Q.M.), a solving numerical method pertaining to the class of spectral methods. The shell theory used for this study is a first order shear deformation theory with transverse shearing deformations and rotatory inertia included. The shell governing equations in terms of mid-surface displacements are obtained, then, after expansion in partial Fourier series of the longitudinal coordinate, solved with the aim of the G.D.Q.M.. Several comparisons are made with open literature available results, showing the great capability and reliability of the technique in argument