VIBRATIONS OF COMPOSITE CIRCULAR CYLINDRICAL VESSELS

Free vibrations are analyzed for a laminated composite circular cylind rical vessel consisting of a laminated composite circular cylindrical shell and laminated composite circular plate lids with a hole at both ends. In the analysis, by using the exact solutions of the equations o f motion for the circular cylindrical shell and the circular plate, th e Lagrangian of the vessel is expressed in a quadratic form of the unk nown boundary values. The frequency equations are obtained by minimizi ng the Lagrangian with respect to the unknown boundary values. Numeric al studies are made for vessels with symmetric cross-ply laminates of unidirectional graphite fiber reinforced epoxy. The natural frequencie s, the mode shapes and the bending moment distributions are obtained a nd their characteristics are investigated. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science L td. All rights reserved.