FREE-VIBRATION OF ANISOTROPIC COMPOSITE THIN-WALLED-BEAMS OF CLOSED CROSS-SECTION CONTOUR

This paper focuses on the formulation of the dynamic problem of laminated composite thick- and thin-walled, single-cell beams of arbitrary cross-section and on the investigation of their associated free vibration behavior. The structural model considered herein incorporates a number of non-classical effects. These are related to the exotic properties characterizing the advanced composite material structures; namely, anisotropy, heterogeneity and transverse shear flexibility, and with the incorporation of the non-uniform torsional model. The results obtained in this paper, related to the modelling of thick and thin-walled beams (TWB) made of advanced composite materials and the clarification of the role played by a number of non-classical effects, are expected to be useful toward obtaining better predictions of the vibrational behavior of TWB structures, in general, and of dynamic response and flutter instability of aeronautical/aerospace structures, in particular. © 1993 Academic Press Limited.