Shear deformable dynamic stiffness elements for a free vibration analysis of composite plate assemblies - Part II: Numerical examples

Abstract

The dynamic stiffness elements based on the HSDT and FSDT (and the corresponding dynamic stiffness matrices of a laminated composite plate) have been implemented into the original MATLAB code, and a variety of numerical investigations is performed in this paper. The obtained results are validated against the exact and numerical solutions or the experimental data from the literature. In the absence of the analytical solutions, the numerical solutions obtained by using the Abaqus software are used. Excellent agreement is achieved against the existing exact solutions. After the detail convergence study considering both low and high modes of vibration, the effects of the plate side-to-thickness and orthotropy ratios, as well as the influence of boundary conditions, have been discussed by comparing the proposed models with the exact Levy-type solutions from the literature. A variety of new results for non-special boundary conditions is provided. Two additional examples of a completely free laminated composite plate undergoing free vibrations are provided and the results are validated against the experiment. Finally, the analyses considering the Z-and U-shaped composite plate assemblies with various boundary conditions are provided as a benchmark for future research.