Semi-analytical study of free vibration characteristics of shear deformable filament wound anisotropic shells of revolution

Free vibration characteristics of filament wound anisotropic shells of revolution are investigated by using multisegment numerical integration technique in combination with a modified frequency trial method. The applicability of multisegment numerical integration technique is extended to the solution of free vibration problem of anisotropic composite shells of revolution through the use of finite exponential Fourier transform of the fundamental shell equations. The governing shell equations comprise the full anisotropic form of the constitutive relations, including first-order transverse shear deformation, and all components of translatory and rotary inertia. The variation of the stiffness coefficients along the axis of the shell is also incorporated into the solution method. Filaments are assumed to be placed along the geodesic fiber path on the shell of revolution resulting in the variation of the stiffness coefficients along the axis of the composite shell of revolution with general meridional curvature. Sample solutions have been performed on the effect of the variation of the stiffness coefficients on the free vibration behavior of filament wound truncated conical and spherical shells of revolution.     

Vibration analysis of laminated cross-ply oval cylindrical shells

Here, free vibrations and transient dynamic response analyses of laminated cross-ply oval cylindrical shells are carried out. The formulation is based on higher order theory that accounts for the transverse shear and the transverse normal deformations, and includes zig-zag variation in the in-plane displacements across the thickness of the multi-layered shells. The contributions of inertia effect due to in-plane and rotary motions, and the higher order function arising from the assumed displacement models are included. The governing equations obtained using Lagrangian equations of motion are solved through finite element approach. A detailed parametric study is conducted to bring out the influence of different shell geometry, ovality parameter, lay-up and loading environment on the vibration characteristics related to different modes of vibrations of oval shell.     

Vibration of doubly curved shallow shells with arbitrary boundaries

The first comprehensive study of shallow shell vibrations subjected to as many as 21 possible boundary conditions is presented. Thin shallow shell theory is used. Relatively accurate results for natural frequencies of doubly-curved shallow shells have been obtained. These can be used for benchmarking by researchers as well as reference data for practicing engineers. The Ritz method is used to solve for natural vibrations of these shells with arbitrary boundary conditions. Natural frequencies are presented for various shell curvatures including spherical, cylindrical and hyperbolic paraboloidal shells.     

Free vibrations of cylindrical shells with elastic-support boundary conditions

This paper concerns the free vibrations of cylindrical shells with elastic boundary conditions. Based on the Flügge classical thin shell theory, the equations of motion for the cylindrical shells are solved by the method of wave propagations. The wave numbers are obtained by directly solving an eighth order equation. The elastic-support boundary conditions can be arbitrarily specified in terms of 8 independent sets of distributed springs. All the classical homogeneous boundary conditions can be considered as the special cases when the stiffness for each set of springs is equal to either infinity or zero. The present solutions are validated by the results previously given by other researchers and/or obtained using finite element models. The effects on the frequency parameters of elastic restraints are investigated for shells of different geometrical characteristics.     

Dynamic stability of functionally graded cantilever cylindrical shells under distributed axial follower forces

In this paper, flutter of functionally graded material (FGM) cylindrical shells under distributed axial follower forces is addressed. The first-order shear deformation theory is used to model the shell, and the material properties are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction according to a power law distribution using the properties of two base material phases. The solution is obtained by using the extended Galerkin's method, which accounts for the natural boundary conditions that are not satisfied by the assumed displacement functions. The effect of changing the concentrated (Beck's) follower force into the uniform (Leipholz's) and linear (Hauger's) distributed follower loads on the critical circumferential mode number and the minimum flutter load is investigated. As expected, the flutter load increases as the follower force changes from the so-called Beck's load into the so-called Leipholz's and Hauger's loadings. The increased flutter load was calculated for homogeneous shell with different mechanical properties, and it was found that the difference in elasticity moduli bears the most significant effect on the flutter load increase in short, thick shells. Also, for an FGM shell, the increase in the flutter load was calculated directly, and it was found that it can be derived from the simple power law when the corresponding increase for the two base phases are known.     

A GROUP THEORETIC APPROACH TO THE LINEAR FREE VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF SHELLS WITH DIHEDRAL SYMMETRY

This paper deals with a group theoretic approach to the finite element analysis of linear free vibrations of shells with dihedral symmetry. Examples of such shell structures are cylindrical shells, conical shells, shells with circumferential stiffeners, corrugated shells, spherical shells, etc. The group theoretic approach is used to exploit the inherent symmetry in the problem. For vibration analysis, the group theoretic results give the correct symmetry-adapted basis for the displacement field. The stiffness matrix K and the mass matrix M are identically block diagonalized in this basis. The generalized linear eigenvalue problem of free vibration gets split into independent subproblems due to this block diagonalization. The Simo element is used in the finite element formulation of the shell equilibrium equations. Numerical results for natural frequencies and natural modes of vibration of several dihedral shell structures are presented. The results are shown to be in very good agreement with those reported in the literature. The computational advantages and physical insights due to the group theoretic approach are also discussed.     

Radial vibrations of orthotropic laminated hollow spheres

The three-dimensional elasticity problem of the radial vibrations of a composite hollow spherical shell laminated of spherically orthotropic layers is considered. After formulating the equations, the exact determinantal equation from which the frequencies of vibration can be extracted is developed. Some calculated results for combinations of isotropic and orthotropic materials indicate the sensitivity of the frequencies to the geometry and material make up of the shells.     

Axisymmetric vibrations of laminated conical shells of variable thickness

Axisymmetric free vibrations of laminated conical shells with a linear thickness variation in the meridional direction are studied. A Rayleigh-Ritz procedure is adopted for the analysis. A general stacking arrangement with orthotropic layers is considered. Classical thin shell theory is used. Assumed displacement functions are algebraic polynomials in transformed meridional co-ordinate. Parametric studies are presented to illustrate the effects of geometric, material and coupling parameters and of the boundary conditions on the frequencies and mode shapes.     

Influence of thickness shear deformation on free vibrations of rectangular plates,cylindrical panels and cylinders of antisymmetric angle-ply construction

This paper is concerned with the influence of thickness shear deformation and rotatory inertia on the free vibrations of antisymmetric angle-ply laminated circular cylindrical panels. Two kinds of thickness shear deformable shell theories are considered. In the first one, uniformly distributed thickness shear strains through the shell thickness and, therefore, thickness shear correction factors are used. In the second theory a parabolic variation of thickness shear strains and stresses with zero values at the inner and outer shell surfaces is assumed. The analysis is mainly based on Love's approximations but, for purposes of comparison, Donnell's shallow shell approximations are also considered. For a simply supported panel, the equations of motion of the aforementioned theories, as well as of the corresponding classical theories, are solved by using Galerkin's method. For a family of graphite-epoxy angle-ply laminated plates and circular cylindrical panels, numerical results are obtained, compared and discussed and some interesting conclusions are made regarding the shell theories considered as well as the mathematical method employed.     

Vibrations of segmented cylindrical shells by a fourier series component mode method

The vibrations of a multi-segment cylindrical shell with a common mean radius are studied. The shell is uniform for any segment but the material and geometric properties may vary from segment to segment. The solution is based on the component mode method coupled with Fourier series and Lagrange multipliers. It is shown that a single segment shell with boundary conditions of free support without tangential constraint is sufficient for an arbitrary shell with arbitrary boundary conditions. Results are presented for simply supported shells and clamped-free shells for two segments with different length and thickness.     

Dynamic analysis of ring-stiffened circular cylindrical shells

A numerical method is developed for the dynamic analysis of ring-stiffened circular cylindrical thin elastic shells. Only circular symmetric vibrations of the shell segments and radial and torsional vibrations of the rings are considered. The geometric and material properties of the shell segments and the rings may vary from segment to segment. Free vibrations or forced vibrations due to harmonic pressure loading are treated with the aid of dynamic stiffness influence coefficients for shell segments and rings. Forced vibrations due to transient pressure loading are treated with the aid of dynamic stiffness influence coefficients for shell segments and rings defined in the Laplace transform domain. The time domain response is then obtained by a numerical inversion of the transformed solution. The effect of external viscous or internal viscoelastic damping is also investigated by the proposed method. In all the cases, the dynamic problem is reduced to a static-like form and the “exact” solution of the problem is numerically obtained.     

Vibrations of initially stressed cylinders of variable thickness

Natural frequencies and buckling loads for cylindrical shells having linearly varying thickness are obtained by using a segmentation technique. The present results for free vibration of a cylinder compare very well with those obtained previously. The effect of the thickness variation on the frequencies of a cylindrical shell is studied. Frequencies are also calculated for a cylinder of variable thickness under axial compression and a relationship between the frequency and axial compression is obtained for a particular wave number.     

Free vibrations of elastic circular toroidal shells

In this paper, the free vibrations of elastic in vacuo circular toroidal shells under different boundary conditions are studied using the linear Sanders thin shell theory. Beam functions are used to describe the motion along the meridional direction whilst trigonometric functions are used to represent the deformation of the cross section. It is shown that both the natural frequencies and the mode shapes can be accurately predicted as long as the employed beam functions satisfy the boundary conditions at the ends of the shells. The dependence of the free vibration characteristics of an elastic toroidal shell upon boundary conditions and toroidal to cross-sectional radius ratio is also illustrated and explained in this paper.     

The vibration and stability of orthotropic conical shells with non-homogeneous material properties under a hydrostatic pressure

In this paper, the vibration and stability of orthotropic conical shells with non-homogeneous material properties under a hydrostatic pressure are studied. At first, the basic relations have been obtained for orthotropic truncated conical shells, Young's moduli and density of which vary continuously in the thickness direction. By applying the Galerkin method to the foregoing equations, the buckling pressure and frequency parameter of truncated conical shells are obtained from these equations. Finally, carrying out some computations, the effects of the variations of conical shell characteristics, the effects of the non-homogeneity and the orthotropy on the critical dimensionless hydrostatic pressure and lowest dimensionless frequency parameter have been studied, when Young's moduli and density vary together and separately. The results are presented in tables, figures and compared with other works.     

Some problems of analysis and optimization of plates and shells

The classical optimization problems of plates and shells to satisfy a priori given geometry and dynamical characteristics are considered. Orthotropic plates and shells with variable thickness and low transverse stiffness are analyzed. First, some useful theorems and their proofs are given. Then the finite approximation of the problem related to optimization of free vibrations of shells with transverse deformation and rotary inertia is discussed. The varational iteration (MVI) and Bubnov-Galerkin (MB) methods are applied, and their convergence and suitability for application to plates and shells analysis are discussed and numerically evaluated.     

Natural frequencies and modes of open cylindrical shells with a circumferential thickness taper

An analytical procedure to estimate not only the natural frequencies but also modes of open cylindrical shells with a circumferential thickness taper by the transfer matrix method is presented. The transfer matrix is derived from the non-linear differential equations for the cylindrical shells by numerical integration. The accuracy and convergence characteristics of this method are investigated, and the natural frequencies and modes of open cylindrical shells with a circumferential thickness taper are presented for various curvatures, aspect ratios, boundary conditions and thickness ratios. Furthermore, the influences of thickness variation of the cross-section on the natural frequencies and modes are examined.     

Vibration of prolate spheroidal shells with shear deformation and rotatory inertia: axisymmetric case

This paper presents the derivation of the equations for nonaxisymmetric motion of prolate spheroidal shells of constant thickness. The equations include the effect of distributed mechanical surface forces and moments. The shell theory used in this derivation includes three displacements and two thickness shear rotations. Thus, the effects of membrane, bending, shear deformation, and rotatory inertia are included in this theory. The resulting five coupled partial differential equations are self-adjoint and positive definite. The frequency-wave-number spectrum has five branches, two acoustic and three optical branches representing flexural, extensional, torsional, and two thickness shear. For the case of axisymmetric motion, these were computed for various spheroidal shell eccentricities and thickness-to-length ratios for a large number of modes. The axisymmetric dynamic response for damped shells of various eccentricities and thicknesses under point and ring surface forces are presented.     

Vibrations of stiffened cylinders with cutouts

An approximate method of determining the free vibration characteristics of ring and/or stringer-stiffened cylindrical shells with cutouts is presented in this paper. The method is based on the Rayleigh-Ritz technique in which beam characteristic functions (axially) and trigonometric functions (circumferentially) are used in the displacement series for the shell reference surface. It was found that the cutouts generally tend to decrease the frequencies. This effect is the largest on the fundamental frequency. Physically this means that a cutout reduces the effective shell stiffness to a greater extent than it does the effective mass. The mode shapes display strong coupling of the distinct wave forms of an otherwise uniform shell. They also reveal the possibility of peak amplitudes in the normal displacements both near and away from the edges of the cutouts. The reductions in the lower frequencies (caused by cutouts) for the stiffened shell were found to be less than those for the unstiffened shell.     

Axially symmetric vibrations of fluid-filled poroelastic circular cylindrical shells

Employing Biot's theory of wave propagation in liquid saturated porous media, axially symmetric vibrations of fluid-filled and empty poroelastic circular cylindrical shells of infinite extent are investigated for different wall-thicknesses. Let the poroelastic cylindrical shells are homogeneous and isotropic. The frequency equation of axially symmetric vibrations each for a pervious and an impervious surface is derived. Particular cases when the fluid is absent are considered both for pervious and impervious surfaces. The frequency equation of axially symmetric vibrations propagating in a fluid-filled and an empty poroelastic bore, each for a pervious and an impervious surface is derived as a limiting case when ratio of thickness to inner radius tends to infinity as the outer radius tends to infinity. Cut-off frequencies when the wavenumber is zero are obtained for fluid-filled and empty poroelastic cylindrical shells both for pervious and impervious surfaces. When the wavenumber is zero, the frequency equation of axially symmetric shear vibrations is independent of nature of surface, i.e., pervious or impervious and also it is independent of presence of fluid in the poroelastic cylindrical shell. Non-dimensional phase velocity for propagating modes is computed as a function of ratio of thickness to wavelength in absence of dissipation. These results are presented graphically for two types of poroelastic materials and then discussed. In general, the phase velocity of an empty poroelastic cylindrical shell is higher than that of a fluid-filled poroelastic cylindrical shell.The phase velocity of a fluid-filled bore is higher than that of an empty poroelastic bore. Previous results are shown as a special case of present investigation. Results of purely elastic solid are obtained.     

Free vibration study of layered cylindrical shells by collocation with splines

The free vibration of circular cylindrical thin shells, made up of uniform layers of isotropic or specially orthotropic materials, is studied using point collocation method and employing spline function approximations. The equations of motion for the shell are derived by extending Love's first approximation theory. Assuming the solution in a separable form a system of coupled differential equations, in the longitudinal, circumferential and transverse displacement functions, is obtained. These functions are approximated by Bickley-type splines of suitable orders. The process of point collocation with suitable boundary conditions results in a generalized eigenvalue problem from which the values of a frequency parameter and the corresponding mode shapes of vibration, for specified values of the other parameters, are obtained. Two types of boundary conditions and four types of layers are considered. The effect of neglecting the coupling between the flexural and extensional displacements is analysed. The influences of the relative layer thickness, a length parameter and a total thickness parameter on the frequencies are studied. Both axisymmetric and asymmetric vibrations are investigated. The effect of the circumferential node number on the vibrational behaviour of the shell is also analysed.