VIBRATIONS OF LAMINATED BEAMS USING HIGHER-ORDER THEORY

The free vibrations of laminated cross-ply composite beams are examine d using a C-0 continuous displacement type finite element model based on the higher-order Lo-Christensen-Wu (LCW) theory. This theory couple s the effects of bending, shear, and axial deformations and the corres ponding inertia terms. Numerical results are presented for a variety o f boundary conditions for both symmetric and non-symmetric laminates. In the non-symmetric lay-ups, all the basic modes of vibration, namely , the flexural mode, the axial mode, and the shear mode interact to pr oduce the actual mode of vibration.