Finite element analysis of the dynamic behavior of a laminated windscreen with frequency dependent viscoelastic core

This paper presents numerical and experimental validation of results obtained by a shell finite element, which has been developed for modeling of the dynamic behavior of sandwich multilayered structures with a viscoelastic core. The proposed shell finite element is very easy to implement in existing finite element solvers, since it uses only the displacements as degrees of freedom at external faces and at inter-layer interfaces. The displacement field is linearly interpolated in the thickness direction of each layer, and analytical integration is made in the thickness direction in order to avoid meshing of each sandwich layer by solid elements. Only the two dimensional mid-surface of reference is meshed, facilitating the mesh generation task. A simplified modal approach using a real modal basis is also proposed to efficiently calculate the dynamic response of the sandwich structure. The proposed method reduces the memory size and computing time and takes into account the frequency-dependence of the polymer core mechanical properties. Results obtained by the proposed element in conjunction with the simplified modal method have been numerically and experimentally validated by comparison to results obtained by commercial software codes (MSC/NASTRAN and ESI/RAYON-VTM), and to measurements done on automobile windscreens. (C) 2012 Acoustical Society of America. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.4733554]