EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF CARBON-FIBER EPOXY COMPOSITE THIN BEAMS

The dynamic characteristics of high strength symmetrically laminated c arbon fiber epoxy composite thin beams were experimentally investigate d in a vacuum chamber equipped with a fiber optic vibrometer and the e lectromagnetic hammer. The measured dynamic characteristics were compa red to those calculated by the macromechanical theory based on the ani sotropic plate theory and the Bernoulli-Euler beam theory. From the co mparison, it was found that the macromechanical theory could accuratel y predict the dynamic characteristics of the carbon fiber epoxy compos ite thin beams when the undirectional properties of the composite mate rial were known.