An evaluation of higher-order effects on the eigenfrequencies of compositestructures

The evaluation of the performances of higher-order models for the simulatio n of the response of laminated structures, namely in the prediction of glob al response characteristics such as the eigenfrequencies, is considered. An FEM analysis based on singlelayer higher-order models has been carried out and the results for various cases of stacking sequences and aspect ratios have been compared. The same results have also been compared with the ones obtained with the classical laminate theory (CLT) in order to establish the predicting capability of the models and their utility in real practice. (C ) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.