FREE-VIBRATIONS OF THICK CANTILEVER LAMINATED PLATES WITH STEP-CHANGE OF THICKNESS

Three-dimensional finite element analysis and the transfer matrix method are combined to solve free vibration problems for thick cantilever laminated plates with or without a step-change of thickness in the chord-wise direction. Two types of cross-section are considered, one symmetric with respect to the middle plane and the other non-symmetric. The complete cantilever structure is divided into a series of solid strips, and each solid strip is further divided in the chord-wise direction. Both isotropic and laminated plates are considered. For laminated plates, fiber orientations and the layer arrangement are taken into consideration in addition to the geometrical parameters. The natural frequency parameters and mode shapes of laminated plates with various fiber orientations have been computed and analyzed. In order to validate the method used in the present study, the results for the frequency parameters of thick cantilever isotropic plates with uniform thickness are compared with some existing data, and the agreement is quite satisfactory. © 1994 Academic Press Limited.