Theoretical and Experimental Investigations of Vibration Characteristics of a Combined Composite Cylindrical-Conical Shell Structure

Abstract

In this work, the effect of variation of several variables on linear free and transient vibration response of combined cylindrical-conical shell is presented. The shell is made of polyester resin reinforced by a continuous type E-glass. The problem is solved experimentally and numerically for both orthotropic and isotropic shell structures. Clamped – free boundary conditions is used for the analyzed structure. The experimental program is conducted using digital oscilloscope with built-in FFT analyzer with aid of hammer transducer. Software named SIGVIEW was used to calculate the natural frequencies experimentally foreach specimen. The numerical investigation is adopted using ANSYS FiniteElement software to verify the experimental results which show how the natural frequencies and mode shapes are affected by changing these variables. The results show that this investigation will assist the study for the advanced development of the cross-ply laminated composite coupled shell structures