Modelling and analysis of viscoelastic laminated composite shaft: an operator-based finite element approach

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to perform dynamic analysis of a viscoelastic laminated composite rotor shaft considering various asymmetries. Equivalent modulus theory (EMT) is employed to derive the finite element based mathematical model of the composite shaft considering the shear effect and compared with other method known as direct procedure technique (DPT). The material damping behaviour of the composite shaft is incorporated using operator-based approach, which leads to a higher-order model. Fibre-reinforced composite sample of single layer and 8 layer are fabricated and tested in dynamic mechanical analyser to obtain frequency-dependent material data and viscoelastic parameters. EMT uses single layer properties, while modelling of DPT is done considering equivalent 8 layer sample. The closeness of numerical results between two methods proves the authentication of the applied EMT for modelling of damped heterogeneous laminated composite shaft.