Vibration Analysis of Composite Beams with Sinusoidal Periodically Varying Interfaces

As an increasing variety of composite materials with complex interfaces are emerging, we develop a theory to investigate composite beams and shed some light on new physical insights into composite beams with sinusoidal periodically varying interfaces. For the natural vibration of composite beams with continuous or periodically varying interfaces, the governing equation has been derived according to the generalised Hamiltonian principle. For composite beams having different boundary conditions, we transform the governing equations into integral equations and solve them by using the sinusoidal functions as test functions as well as the basis of the vibration modes. Due to the orthogonality of the sinusoidal functions, expansion coefficients in closed form can be found. Therefore, the proposed iterative schemes, with the help of the Rayleigh quotient and boundary functions, can quickly find the eigenvalues and free vibration modes. The obtained natural frequencies agree well with those obtained using the finite element method. In addition, the proposed method can be extended easily to laminated composite beams in more general cases or complex components and geometries in vibration engineering. The effects of different material properties of the upper and lower components and varying interface geometry function on the frequency of the composite beams are examined. According to our investigation, the natural frequency of a laminated beam with a continuous or periodically varying interface can be changed by altering the density or elastic modulus. We also show the responses of the frequencies of the components to the varying periodic interface.