Dynamic stiffness analysis of laminated composite plates

Abstract

An analysis is presented for the vibration and stability problem of composite laminated plates by using the dynamic stiffness matrix method. A dynamic stiffness matrix is formed by frequency dependent shape functions which are exact solutions of the governing differential equations. It eliminates spatial discretization error and is capable of predicting several natural modes by means of a small number of degrees of freedom. The natural frequencies and buckling loads of composite laminated plates are calculated numerically. The effects of the boundary conditions, the number of layers, the orthotropicity ratio, the side to thickness ratio, and the aspect ratio are studied. It is also illustrated that connected composite plate structures can be handled without difficulty by the present method.