Modelling and Analysis of Thermal Vibrations of Coated Fiber-Reinforced Composite Cylindrical Thin Shells

Abstract

The thermal vibration characteristics of fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) cylindrical thin shells (FRCCTSs) coated with functionally graded porous graphene platelet (FGPGP) are investigated in this work, which is based on a theoretical model constructed by a mixed analytical and finite element method. Firstly, the porosity distributions of the FGPGP coating are assumed to be uniform or nonuniform along thickness direction with four porous forms of coating being taken into account. Next, the displacement field functions along with the axial, circumferential, and transverse directions are assumed on the basis of Love’s first-order approximation theory. Furthermore, this coated thin shell is discretized by the four-node shell element method to calculate the mass and stiffness matrices, with the artificial spring technology being adopted to simulate arbitrary boundary conditions. After the frequency parameters and dynamic responses are successfully solved, the proposed model with and without coating material is roughly validated by comparing with literature results at different boundary conditions without considering the temperature effect. Meanwhile, by utilizing the natural frequencies and vibration responses measured via a thermal vibration experiment bench, the comprehensive verification is performed within a temperature range of 20–200∘C. Finally, parametric studies are undertaken to study the influences of boundary condition, porosity distribution of coating, fiber layup pattern, the predefined thickness ratio, and elastic modulus ratio on the corresponding thermal vibration properties.