Hygrothermal effects on the vibration and stability of an initially stressed laminated plate

Abstract

The influence of hygrothermal effects on the vibration frequency and buckling load of a shear deformable composite plate with arbitrary initial stresses was investigated. The governing equations of the effects of humid, thermal and initial stresses are established using the variational method. The material properties of the composite plate are affected by both temperature and moisture. The initial stress is taken to be a combination of uniaxial load and pure bending in a hygrothermal environment. The influence of various parameters, such as the fiber volume fraction, temperature, moisture concentration, length/thickness ratios, initial stresses and bending stress ratio on the vibration and stability of the response of a laminated plate are studied in detail. The behavior of vibration and stability are sensitive to temperature, moisture concentration, fiber volume fraction and initial stresses.