Free vibration analysis of industry-driven woven fiber laminated carbon/epoxy composite beams by experimental and numerical approach

The free vibration study of industry-driven woven fibre laminated carbon/epoxy composite beam is addressed through experimental and numerical modal analysis in the present research work. The experimental modal analysis is performed using the vibration Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analyser and the natural frequencies are realized in the PULSE environment. A linear beam model is simulated in ABAQUS finite element (FE) software, adopting a solid deformable 8-nodded element with five degrees of freedom (DOF) per node from the ABAQUS library for numerical computation of natural frequencies. A satisfactory agreement is achieved between the experimental and numerical results. The effects of ply-orientation, number of plies, lamination scheme and aspect ratios with different boundary conditions on the natural frequencies are studied. The results confirmed that the predicted vibration characteristics of laminated composite beams are sensitive to the adopted parameters for the investigation. The present study will help to understand the dynamic behaviour for laminated composite beams and serve as an experimental benchmark result within the frequency domain.

Simplified Approach for Parameter Selection and Analysis of Carbon and Glass Fiber Reinforced Composite Beams

In this study, a simplified approach that can be used for the selection of the design parameters of carbon and glass fiber reinforced composite beams is presented. Important design parameters including fiber angle orientation, laminate thickness, materials of construction, cross-sectional shape, and mass are considered. To allow for the integrated selection of these parameters, structural indices and efficiency metrics are developed and plotted in design charts. As the design parameters depend on mode of loading, normalized structural metrics are defined for axial, bending, torsional, and combined bending-torsional loading conditions. The design charts provide designers with an accurate and efficient approach for the determination of stiffness parameters and mass of laminated composite beams. Using the design charts, designers can readily determine optimum fiber direction, number of layers in a laminate, cross-sectional shape, and materials that will provide the desired mass and stiffness. The laminated composite beams were also analyzed through a detailed finite element analysis study. Three-dimensional solid elements were used for the finite element modelling of the beams. To confirm design accuracy, numerical results were compared with close-form solutions and results obtained from the design charts. To show the effectiveness of the design charts, the simplified method was utilized for increasing the bending and torsional stiffness of a laminated composite robotic arm. The results show that the proposed approach can be used to accurately and efficiently analyze composite beams that fall within the boundaries of the design charts.