A Study on The Effect of Welding on Natural Frequencies of Thin Plate

Most constructions in civil engineering and aviation industry, are welded to arrange various structures. This trend is also found in shipbuilding and marine engineering, as the steel-plated structures of ship hull and offshore facilities are dominated by welding connections. Induced vibration from environment or people in the structures may cause severe casualties if proper estimations are not provided. In this case, vibration analysis is an essential element to prevent fatigue failure due to the resonance on both a moving structure such as automobile and ship, as well as general constructed building. While studies of dams and plates subjected to vibration behaviors have been conducted by many researchers, detail discussion related to interpretation of vibration characteristic on welded structures, especially plated structure such as ship is still limited. Thus, there is a need to conduct a further study concentrated on variations of natural frequencies generated by welding. This study aims to measure the natural frequencies of welded thin plates using experimental test, and analyze the qualitative tendency of the natural frequencies on the thin plate using numerical simulation. Results of the experiment is to be used as reference/benchmarking data in estimating quantitative basis of welding on the natural frequencies using theoreticalanalytical method. Methodology to analyze vibration influence on the welded structures is briefly summarized and recommended to be used as comparison data in further structural assessment.