DYNAMIC-RESPONSE OF NONUNIFORM COMPOSITE BEAMS

The harmonic response of tapered composite beams is investigated by us ing a finite element model. Only uniaxial bending is considered. The P oisson effect is incorporated in the formulation of the beam constitut ive equations. Interlaminar stresses are evaluated by using stress equ ilibrium equations. The effects of in-plane inertia and rotary inertia are also considered in the formulation of the mass matrix. A parametr ic study is carried out to investigate the influence of taper profile and taper parameter. Linearly varying thickness variations of increasi ng, decreasing, decreasing-increasing and increasing-decreasing types are considered. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.