Investigation of the vibration of lattice composite conical shells formed by geodesic helical ribs

In this paper free linear vibration of lattice composite conical shells will be investigated. Lattice composite conical shell consists of composite helical ribs and thin outer skin. A smeared method is employed to obtain the variable coefficients of stiffness of conical shell. The ribs are modeled as a beam and in addition to the axial loads, endure shear loads and bending moments. Therefore, theoretical formulations are based on first-order shear deformation theory of shell. For verification of the obtained results, comparison is made with those available in open literature. Also, using FEM software the 3D finite element model of composite lattice conical shell is built and analyzed. Comparing results of analytical and numerical analyses show a good agreement between them. Some special cases as variation of geometric parameters of lattice part, effect of the boundary conditions and influence of the circumferential wave numbers on the natural frequencies of the conical shell are studied. It is concluded, when mass and the geometrical ratio of the composite lattice conical shell do not change, increment the semi vertex angle of cone leads to increase the natural frequencies. Moreover for shell thicknesses greater than a specific value, the presence of the lattice structure has not significant effect on the natural frequencies. The obtained results have novelty and can be used for further and future researches.