Free vibration of rotating pretwisted FG-GRC sandwich conical shells in thermal environment using HSDT

Abstract

The free vibration behavior of rotating pretwisted sandwich conical shell panels with functionally graded graphene-reinforced composite (FG-GRC) face sheets and homogenous core is investigated in uniform thermal environment using finite element method in conjunction with a higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT). The volume fraction distribution of the graphene in the face sheets is considered to be uniform or layer-wise functionally graded across its thickness. The temperature-dependent effective elastic moduli of the FG-GRC face sheets are computed employing the refined Halpin-Tsai model, while the effective Poison’s ratio, density, and thermal expansion coefficients are obtained using the mixture-rule. The effects of non-linearity arising out of the initial stresses due to thermal and centrifugal loads are incorporated via geometric stiffness based on Green-Lagrange’s strains. The governing equations for sandwich conical shell panels are derived using Lagrange’s equation of motion at moderate rotational speeds. The influence of graphene distribution patterns on the fundamental frequencies of FG-GRC sandwich conical shells under different thermal conditions is studied with emphasis on triggering parameters like pretwist angle, cone length-to-thickness ratio, core-to-face sheets thickness ratio, and dimensionless rotational speed.