Free vibrations analysis of thin plates by the boundary element method in non-singular approach

A free vibration analysis of Kirchhoff plates is presented in the paper. Using proposed approach, there is no need to introduce Kirchhoff forces at the plate corner and equivalent shear forces at a plate boundary. Two unknown and independent variables are considered at the boundary element node. The Bettie theorem is used to derive the boundary integral equation. The collocation version of boundary element method with "constant" type of elements is presented. The source points are located slightly outside a plate boundary, hence the quasi-diagonal integrals of fundamental functions are non-singular.