A study on material damping of 0° laminated composite sandwich cantilever beams with a viscoelastic layer

The damping behavior of a 0degrees laminated sandwich composite beam inserted with a viscoelastic layer is investigated. A quantitative analysis of damping in the sandwich laminated composite beam has been conducted through the theoretical method. Results showed that the viscoelastic core thickness in the sandwich beam and the length of the beam have a great effect on the damping loss factor. They also demonstrate the great capability of laminated sandwich composites with embedded viscoelastic layer to considerably enhance structural damping. It is shown that the extended Ni-Adams' theory can be efficiently used to identify the damping characteristics of the laminated sandwich composite beam. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.