Dynamic characterization of a CNT reinforced hybrid uniform and non-uniform composite plates

Abstract

In the present study, the various dynamic properties of MWCNT embedded fiber reinforced polymer uniform and tapered composite (MWCNT-FRP) plates are investigated. Various configurations of a tapered composite plate with ply-drop off and uniform composite plate have been considered for the development of the finite element formulation and experimental investigations. First order shear deformation theory (FSDT) has been used to derive the kinetic and potential energy equations of the hybrid composite plates by including the effect of rotary inertia, shear deformation and non-uniformity in thickness of the plate. The governing equations of motion of FRP composite plates without and with MWCNT reinforcement are derived by considering a nine- node rectangular element with five degrees of freedom (DOF) at each node. The effectiveness of the developed finite element formulation has been demonstrated by comparing the natural frequencies and damping ratio of FRP composite plates without and with MWCNT reinforcement obtained experimentally. Various parametric studies are also performed to study the effect of CNT volume fraction and CNT aspect ratio of the composite plate on the natural frequencies of different configurations of CNT reinforced hybrid composite plates. Further the forced vibration analysis is performed to compare the dynamic response of the various configurations of MWCNT-GFRP composite plate with GFRP composite plate under harmonic excitations. It was observed that the fundamental natural frequency and damping ratio of the GFRP composite plate increase approximately 8% and 37% respectively with 0.5wt% reinforcement of MWCNT under CFCF boundary condition. The natural frequencies of MWCNT-GFRP hybrid composite plates tend to decrease with the increase of MWCNT volume fraction beyond 2% due to agglomeration of CNT's. It is also observed that the aspect ratio of the CNT has negligible effect on the improvement of dynamics properties due to randomly orientation of CNT's.