Vibration and stability of angle-ply laminated composite plates subjected to in-plane stresses

Natural frequencies and buckling stresses of angle-ply laminated composite plates are analyzed by taking into account the effects of shear deformation, thickness change and rotatory inertia. By using the method of power series expansion of displacement components, a set of fundamental dynamic equations of a two-dimensional higher-order theory for thick rectangular laminates subjected to in-plane stresses is derived through Hamilton's principle. Several sets of truncated approximate theories are applied to solve the eigenvalue problems of a simply supported thick laminated plate. In order to assure the accuracy of the present theory, convergence properties of the fundamental natural frequency are examined in detail. Numerical results are compared with those of the published existing theories. The modal displacement and stress distributions in the thickness direction are obtained and plotted in figures. The present global higher-order approximate theories can predict the natural frequencies, buckling stresses and modal stresses of thick multilayered angle-ply composite laminates accurately within small number of unknowns which is not dependent on the number of layers.     

Differential quadrature solution for the free vibration analysis of laminated conical shells with variable stiffness

The free vibration analysis of laminated conical shells with variable stiffness is presented using the method of differential quadrature (DQ). The stiffness coefficients are assumed to be functions of the circumferential coordinate that may be more close to the realistic applications. The first-order shear deformation shell theory is used to account for the effects of transverse shear deformations. In the DQ method, the governing equations and the corresponding boundary conditions are replaced by a system of simultaneously algebraic equations in terms of the function values of all the sampling points in the whole domain. These equations constitute a well-posed eigenvalue problem where the total number of equations is identical to that of unknowns and they can be solved readily. By vanishing the semivertex angle (α) of the conical shell, we can reduce the formulation of laminated conical shells to that of laminated cylindrical shells of which stiffness coefficients are the constants. Besides, the present formulation is also applicable to the analysis of annular plates by letting α=π/2. Illustrative examples are given to demonstrate the performance of the present DQ method for the analysis of various structures (annular plates, cylindrical shells and conical shells). The discrepancies between the analyses of laminated conical shells considering the constant stiffness and the variable stiffness are mainly concerned.     

Free vibration of a laminated composite shell of revolution: Effects of shear non-linearity

Effects of shear non-linearity on free vibration of a laminated composite shell of revolution are investigated using a semi-analytical method based on the Reissner–Mindlin shell theory. The coupling between symmetric and anti-symmetric vibration modes of the shell is considered in the shear deformable shell element employed in this study. The Hahn–Tsai non-linearly elastic shear stress–shear strain relation is adopted. Numerical examples are given for laminated composite circular cylindrical and conical shells with various boundary conditions. The numerical results indicate that shear non-linearity may reduce significantly the fundamental frequencies of cross-ply composite shells of revolution.     

Postbuckling of shear deformable cross-ply laminated cylindrical shells under combined external pressure and axial compression

A postbuckling analysis is presented for a shear deformable cross-ply laminated cylindrical shell of finite length subjected to combined loading of external pressure and axial compression. The governing equations are based on Reddy's higher order shear deformation shell theory with von Kármán–Donnell type of kinematic nonlinearity. The nonlinear prebuckling deformations and initial geometric imperfections of the shell are both taken into account. A boundary layer theory of shell buckling, which includes the effects of nonlinear prebuckling deformations, large deflections in the postbuckling range, and initial geometric imperfections of the shell, is extended to the case of shear deformable laminated cylindrical shells under combined loading cases. A singular perturbation technique is employed to determine interactive buckling loads and postbuckling equilibrium paths. The numerical illustrations concern the postbuckling response of perfect and imperfect, unstiffened or stiffened, moderately thick, antisymmetric and symmetric cross-ply laminated cylindrical shells for different values of load-proportional parameters.     

Nonlinear stability analysis of infinitely long laminated cylindrical shallow shells including shear deformation under lateral pressure

This paper presents a theoretical analysis for the various kinds of buckling behaviour of infinitely long laminated cylindrical shallow shells subjected to lateral uniform pressure. The exact solutions of the nonlinear equilibrium equations, in which first-order shear deformation is included, are obtained and the buckling criteria corresponding to different kinds of buckling are constructed taking into account the effects of the transverse shear deformation.     

Thermomechanical buckling of laminated composite and sandwich plates using global–local higher order theory

In this paper, a global–local higher order theory has been used to study buckling response of the laminated composite and sandwich plates subjected to thermal/mechanical compressive loads. The present global–local theory satisfies the free surface conditions and the geometric and stress continuity conditions at interfaces, and the number of unknowns is independent of the layer numbers of the laminate. Based on this higher-order theory, a refined three-noded triangular element satisfying C¹ weak-continuity conditions has been also proposed. The present theory not only predicts accurately the buckling response of general laminated composite plates but also calculates the critical buckling loads of the soft-core sandwich plates. However, numerical results show that the global higher-order theories as well as first order theories encounter some difficulties and overestimate the critical buckling loads for the sandwich plates with a soft core.     

复合材料薄壁圆柱壳热振动特性分析

采用有限元软件ANSYS参数设计语言（APDL）实现复合材料薄壁圆柱壳结构在线性分布温度场作用下的非线性热振动特性分析。计算不同约束条件、不同铺层方式和铺层层数的复合材料薄壁圆柱壳在线性温度场作用下的各阶固有频率,分析边界约束、铺层角度及铺层层数对结构热振动频率的影响。结果表明,温度效应、边界约束、铺层层数显著影响结构的固有频率,适当的铺层角度会改变结构的固有频率,不同的铺层方式对结构固有频率影响程度不同。这些结论将对复合材料结构设计、抗热设计有一定的指导作用。     

Postbuckling of cross-ply laminated cylindrical shells with piezoelectric actuators under complex loading conditions

A postbuckling analysis is presented for a cross-ply laminated cylindrical shell with piezoelectric actuators subjected to the combined action of mechanical, electric and thermal loads. The temperature field considered is assumed to be a uniform distribution over the shell surface and through the shell thickness and the electric field is assumed to be the transverse component E_z only. The material properties are assumed to be independent of the temperature and the electric field. The governing equations are based on the classical shell theory with a von Kármán–Donnell-type of kinematic nonlinearity. The nonlinear prebuckling deformations and initial geometric imperfections of the shell are both taken into account. A boundary layer theory of shell buckling, which includes the effects of nonlinear prebuckling deformations, large deflections in the postbuckling range, and initial geometric imperfections of the shell, is extended to the case of hybrid laminated cylindrical shells. A singular perturbation technique is employed to determine the buckling loads and postbuckling equilibrium paths. The numerical illustrations concern the postbuckling behavior of perfect and imperfect, cross-ply laminated cylindrical thin shells with fully covered or embedded piezoelectric actuators subjected to combined mechanical loading of external pressure and axial compression, and under different sets of thermal and electric loading conditions. The effects played by temperature rise, applied voltage, shell geometric parameter, stacking sequence, as well as initial geometric imperfections are studied.     

Postbuckling of symmetrically laminated, moderately thick, axisymmetric shallow spherical shells

The paper deals with the buckling and postbuckling behaviour of cylindrically orthotropic, axisymmetric laminated, moderately thick shallow spherical shells under uniformly distributed normal loading. Considering the effects of transverse shear, the governing equations of equilibrium for the shells are derived and expressed in terms of normal deflection , slope qf and stress function gy. An iterative Chebyshev series solution technique is employed for the buckling and postbuckling analyses. Critical loads are estimated and the effects of boundary conditions, material properties, shell parameter, base radius to thickness ratio and number of layers on the postbuckling behaviour are shown.     

Analytical solutions for thick closed laminated cylindrical shells

Discarding any assumptions about displacement models and stress distributions, the state equation for orthotropy is established in full in a cylindrical coordinate system. The analytical solutions are presented for the statics, dynamics and buckling of thick closed laminated cylindrical shells by means of dividing any layer into several thin plies. No matter how many layers are considered, the calculation always leads to the solution of a set of linear algebraic equations in three unknowns. Every equation of elasticity can be satisfied and all the elastic constants can be taken into account. Arbitrary precision of a desired order can be obtained.     

Theory and comparison of the effect of composite and shape memory alloy stiffeners on stability of composite shells and plates

The effects of composite and shape memory alloy stiffeners on stability of composite cylindrical shells and rectangular plates subjected to a compressive load are compared. The governing equations for reinforced cylindrical shells are developed based on the Love first approximation theory and smeared stiffeners technique. It is shown that composite stiffeners are more efficient in cylindrical shells, while shape memory alloy stiffeners may be preferable in plates or in long shallow shells. It is also proven that shape memory alloy stiffeners increase the upper and lower buckling loads, i.e. the linear buckling load and the minimum postbuckling load-carrying capacity of cylindrical shells modeled as single-degree-of-freedom systems by the same amount.     

Bending and vibration of circular cylindrical beams with arbitrary radial nonhomogeneity

This paper presents a new approach for analyzing transverse bending and vibration of circular cylindrical beams with radial nonhomogeneity. The radial nonhomogeneity may be continuous or piecewise-constant, corresponding a functionally graded circular cylinder or a multi-layered circular cylinder, respectively. Different from the Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko theories of beams, our analysis considers shear deformation, but does not need to introduce a shear correction factor. Using the shear-stress-free condition at the surface of the cylinder, coupled governing equations for deflection and rotation angle are derived, and then converted to a single governing equation. The influences of gradient index on the deflection and stress distribution for cantilever and simply-supported beams are studied. Natural frequencies of free vibration of a cylindrical beam with circular cross-section are calculated for different power-law gradients. In particular, a circular cylindrical shell may be taken as a special case of a bi-layered cylinder where the material properties of the inmost cylinder vanish. For this case, the natural frequencies for simply-supported and clamped-clamped cylindrical shells are evaluated and compared with those using three-dimensional theory. Our results coincide well with the previous.     

Refined theory for vibrations and buckling of laminated isotropic annular plates

Hamilton's variational principle is used for the derivation of equations of transversally isotropic laminated annular plates motion. Nonlinear strain—displacements relations are considered. Linearized vibration and buckling equations are obtained for the annular plates uniformly compressed in the radial direction. The effects of transverse shear and rotational inertia are included. A closed form solution is given for the mode shapes in terms of Bessel, power and trigonometric functions. The eigenvalue equations are derived for natural frequencies and buckling loads of annular and circular plates elastically restrained against rotation along edges. Classical-type plate theory results are obtained then by letting the transverse shear stiffness go to infinity and rotational inertia go to zero. Numerical examples are presented by tables and figures for 2- and 3-layered plates with various geometrical and physical parameters. The transverse shear, rotational inertia and boundary conditions effects are discussed.     

Study of Transverse Bending of a Honeycomb Three-Layer Panel with a Circular Axis

The model of transverse bending of a honeycomb three-layer panel with a circular axis is reduced to the design scheme of a three-layer beam with a circular axis and a shear-responsive core. Differential equations are obtained from the condition of stationarity of the functional from displacements of the three-layer beam; these equations allow one to investigate transverse bending while taking into account the variability of shear deformations along the thickness of the core. Transverse forces in load-bearing layers (shells) were found from the equilibrium condition of the selected beam element. The limits of the applicability of the proposed method are estimated.     

Stability, bifurcation and chaos of closed flexible cylindrical shells

Complex vibrations of closed cylindrical shells of infinite length and circular cross-section subjected to transversal local load in the frame of the classical non-linear theories are studied. A transition from partial differential equations (PDEs) to ordinary differential equations (ODEs) is carried out using a higher-order Bubnov–Galerkin approach and Fourier representation. On the other hand, the Cauchy problem is solved using the fourth-order Runge–Kutta method.In the first part of this work, static problems of the theory of closed cylindrical shells are studied. Reliability of the obtained results is verified by comparing them with the results taken from literature. The second part is devoted to the analysis of stability, bifurcation and chaos of closed cylindrical shells. In particular, an influence of sign-changeable external pressure and the control parameters such as magnitude of pressure measured by ₀, relative linear shell dimension λ=L/R, frequency ω_p and amplitude q₀ of external transversal load, on the shell's non-linear dynamics is studied.     

Hygrothermal effects on the postbuckling of shear deformable laminated plates

The influence of hygrothermal effects on the postbuckling of shear deformable laminated plates subjected to a uniaxial compression is investigated using a micro-to-macro-mechanical analytical model. The material properties of the composite are affected by the variation of temperature and moisture, and are based on a micro-mechanical model of a laminate. The governing equations of a laminated plate are based on Reddy's higher-order shear deformation plate theory that includes hygrothermal effects. The initial geometric imperfection of the plate is taken into account. Two cases of the in-plane boundary conditions are considered. A perturbation technique is employed to determine buckling loads and postbuckling equilibrium paths. The numerical illustrations concern the postbuckling behavior of perfect and imperfect, antisymmetric angle-ply and symmetric cross-ply laminated plates under different sets of environmental conditions. The influences played by temperature rise, the degree of moisture concentration, the character of in-plane boundary conditions, transverse shear deformation, plate aspect ratio, total number of plies, fiber orientation, fiber volume fraction and initial geometric imperfections are studied.     

Free vibration of laminated composite plates using two variable refined plate theory

Free vibration of laminated composite plates using two variable refined plate theory is presented in this paper. The theory accounts for parabolic distribution of the transverse shear strains through the plate thickness, and satisfies the zero traction boundary conditions on the surfaces of the plate without using shear correction factors. Equations of motion are derived from the Hamilton's principle. The Navier technique is employed to obtain the closed-form solutions of antisymmetric cross-ply and angle-ply laminates. Numerical results obtained using present theory are compared with three-dimensional elasticity solutions and those computed using the first-order and the other higher-order theories. It can be concluded that the proposed theory is not only accurate but also efficient in predicting the natural frequencies of laminated composite plates.     

Dynamic stability of cross-ply laminated composite cylindrical shells

The dynamic stability of thin, laminated cylindrical shells under combined static and periodic axial forces is studied using Love’s classical theory of thin shells. A normal-mode expansion of the equations of motion yields a system of Mathieu–Hill equations. Bolotin’s method is then employed to obtain the dynamic instability regions. The present study examines the dynamic stability of antisymmetric cross-ply circular, cylindrical shells of different lamination schemes. The effect of the magnitude of the axial load on the instability regions is also examined.     

Viscoelastic and geometrically nonlinear behavior of laminated cylindrical shells

A viscoelastic and geometrically nonlinear finite element analysis is performed to investigate the stress relaxation and deflection of a laminated cylindrical shell under thermal loading. Incremental viscoelastic constitutive equations are derived to predict the stress relaxation. The finite element program is developed using a 3-D degenerated shell element, the first order shear deformation theory and the updated Lagrangian formulation. The viscoelastic and geometrically nonlinear analysis is executed for laminated shells with cross-ply and angle-ply stacking sequences, and its results are compared with those obtained from geometrically linear and viscoelastic analyses. The numerical results show that viscoelasticity and geometrical nonlinearity affect on the deflections and stresses of laminated cylindrical shells.     

Thermomechanical postbuckling analysis of moderately thick functionally graded plates and shallow shells

In this paper, an analytical solution is provided for the postbuckling behaviour of moderately thick plates and shallow shells made of functionally graded materials (FGMs) under edge compressive loads and a temperature field. The material properties of the functionally graded shells are assumed to vary continuously through the thickness of the shell, according to a power law distribution of the volume fraction of the constituents. The fundamental equations for moderately thick rectangular shallow shells of FGM are obtained using the von Karman theory for large transverse deflection and high-order shear deformation theory for moderately thick plates. The solution is obtained in terms of mixed Fourier series and the obtained results are compared with those of the Reissner–Mindlin's theory for moderately thick plates and the classical theory ignoring transverse shear deformation. The effect of material properties, boundary conditions and thermomechanical loading on the buckling behaviour and the associated stress field are determined and discussed. The results reveal that thermomechanical coupling effects and the boundary conditions play a major role in dictating the response of the functionally graded plates and shells under the action of edge compressive loads.