Optimization of damping characteristics of tapered MWCNT/glass fiber reinforced composite rectangular sandwich plates: A higher-order finite element formulation

Abstract

The research work presented in this paper is focused on the investigation of damping characteristics and structural optimization of the tapered composite hybrid smart rectangular sandwich plates. The composite rectangular hybrid sandwich plate contains the constraining and base layers made of multi-walled carbon nanotubes reinforced composite (CNTRC) face sheets and the core layer made of multi-walled carbon nanotubes reinforced magnetorheological elastomer. Higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT) and finite element (FE) formulations are employed to derive the governing equations of the CNTRC rectangular hybrid smart sandwich plate. The performance of the derived HSDT model is validated by comparing the results in terms of natural frequencies evaluated using experimental tests on the composite hybrid smart sandwich structures under different support conditions. The influence of CNT reinforcement on the damping performance of the tapered rectangular hybrid smart sandwich plates are explored. Also, the optimal ply orientations of the tapered CNTRC rectangular sandwich plates with hybrid core is identified using the developed HSDT model coupled with Genetic Algorithm (GA) to enhance the natural frequencies and loss factors. Further, it can be observed that the reinforcement of CNTs in composites significantly influences the stiffness and damping characteristics of the tapered composite rectangular smart sandwich plates.