Magneto-rheological (MR) fluids viscosity can be varied by changing the magnetic field intensity. Therefore, they can improve structural rigidity and damping property. The current study presents a free vibration analysis of a multilayer rectangular plate with two layers of MR fluid and a flexible core layer, rested on a Winkler-Pasternak foundation based on exponential shear deformation theory (ESDT). In this theory, the exponential functions are applied in terms of thickness coordinates to include the effect of transverse and inertial rotational shear deformation. The flexible core displacement is modeled via the second-order Frostig model. The Hamilton’s principle is used to derive the equations of motion. These equations are solved using the Navier method to obtain the natural frequencies of the plate. The accuracy of the derived equations is validated, and the obtained results are compared with a specific case. Finally, the results show that by applying and increasing the magnetic field intensity, the natural frequencies and loss factor increase. With the increase in the mode number for each specific magnetic field intensity, the natural frequency increases and the loss factor decreases. The natural frequencies and loss factor decrease with the increase of the MR layer thickness to overall thickness ratio and the flexible core layer thickness to overall thickness ratio. The natural frequencies increase when the parameters of the foundation increase.
