Vibroacoustic comparisons of composite laminated cylindrical shells according to three shear deformation shell theories

Whether the first-order and Reddy third-order shear deformation shell theories are able to evaluate the vibroacoustic responses of laminated cylindrical shells with normal deformation in the high frequency range or not is examined by comparison with a 3D higher-order shear deformation shell theory. The implicit governing equations of arbitrary angle-ply laminated cylindrical shells are derived from the 3D higher-order and Reddy third-order shell theories, and solved on the basis of the Fourier transform. The Reddy third-order shell theory can be obtained as a special case from the 3D higher-order shell theory. The first-order and Reddy third-order shell theories almost give rise to the same vibrational and acoustic results. These two simple shear deformation shell theories can be used to study far-field acoustic radiation from laminated cylindrical shells from the low to high frequency range, but they show some differences from the 3D higher-order shell theory in high frequency vibration of shells. Nevertheless, the differences of vibrational responses seem not to be distinct. The helical wave spectra of the higher-order radial displacements are nearly separate from those of the low-order radial displacement and play a minor role in far-field acoustic radiation, which makes the two simple shell theories applicable in prediction of acoustic power of the cylindrical shells in the much higher frequency range. Moreover, it also results in the fact that far-field sound is least sensitive in comparison with near-field sound and vibration of shells.