Dynamic characterization of the thickness-tapered laminated plant fiber-reinforced polymer composite plates

Evolution of the laminated woven natural fiber fabric-reinforced polymer composite structures makes a way to the development of the non-uniform laminated composite structures in order to achieve the stiffness variation throughout the structure. An attempt is made in this work to carry out the experimental and numerical investigations on the dynamic characteristics of the thickness-tapered laminated woven jute/epoxy and woven aloe/epoxy composite plates. The governing differential equations of motion for the thickness-tapered laminated composite plate are developed using the h-p version FEM based on higher order shear deformation theory. The validation of the present finite element formulation is carried out by comparing the natural frequencies obtained using the finite element formulation with those natural frequencies determined experimentally. The developed model is further validated with the available literature works on tapered composite plate to confirm the efficiency of h-p version FEM. This work also explores the study of the vibrational characteristics of composite plates under the influence of plant fiber's transverse isotropic material characteristics and porosity associated with plant fiber composites through the elastic constants evaluated in the author's previous work. Also the influences of aspect ratios, ply orientations, and taper angles under various end conditions on the natural frequencies of the woven jute/epoxy composite plate are studied using the present finite element formulation. The forced vibration response of the thickness-tapered laminated woven jute/epoxy composite plate under the harmonic force excitation is carried out considering CFCF and CFFF end conditions.