Vibration Analysis of Thin/Thick, Composites/Metallic Spinning Cylindrical Shells by Refined Beam Models

Abstract

This paper evaluates the vibration characteristics of thin/thick rotating cylindrical shells made of metallic and composite materials. A previous theory of the authors is extended here to include the effects of geometrical stiffness due to rotation. To this end, variable kinematic one-dimensional (1D) models obtained by applying the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF) were used. The components of the displacement fields are x, z polynomials of arbitrary order N, making it possible to go beyond the rigid cross section assumptions of the classical beam theories. A significant contribution of this formulation consists in the possibility to include the in-plane cross-sectional deformations allowing the introduction of the in-plane initial stress effects, e.g., the effect of the geometrical stiffness. Equations of motions, including both Coriolis and in-plane initial stress contributions, were solved through the finite element method. Several analyses were carried out on both thin and thick cylinders made of either metallic or composite materials with different boundary conditions. The results are compared with analytical and numerical shell formulations and three-dimensional solutions available in the literature. Various laminate lay-up have been considered in the case of composites shells. Numerical evaluations of the effect of geometric stiffness are provided, demonstrating its importance in the analyses presented. The 1D models appear very effective to investigate the dynamics of spinning shells and, contrary to shell theories, they do not require any amendments with thick shell geometry. From the computational point of view, the present refined beam models are less expensive than the shell and solid counterparts.