Loss Factors Of Sandwich Plate Research Articles

Prediction of some vibro-acoustic properties of sandwich plates with honeycomb and foam cores.

A sixth-order differential equation governing the flexural vibration of sandwich plates is derived. The sandwich plates considered consist of laminates bonded to honeycomb or foam cores. The structures are assumed to be symmetric. Shear and rotation in core are included in the model. The effect on the bending stiffness of rotation and shear in the core is discussed. Shear effects are of great importance, whereas rotation of the core has only a marginal effect on the bending stiffness of lightweight sandwich plates. The bending stiffness of a sandwich plate is found to strongly depend on frequency. The bending stiffness of a structure determines its acoustical coupling to any surrounding fluid and thus its sound transmission loss and sound radiation ratio. Loss factors of sandwich plates are discussed. Boundary conditions are formulated for rectangular plates having simply supported, clamped, or free edges. There are five boundary conditions to be satisfied at each edge of the plate. The bending stiffness of simply supported and infinite plates is presented as a function of frequency. Expressions for the point mobility for infinite or simply supported finite panels are given.

Estimation of loss factors of a constrained layer plate using viscoelastic layer

A finite element method is developed and validated for the estimation of loss factors of a viscoelastically damped plate. Viscoelastic layer is used as constrained layer and is sandwiched between an aluminum base plate and a constraining layer. Frequency-dependent material properties are used for the viscoelastic material in the finite element model. The derived dynamic equations of motion are used to carry out harmonic analysis to determine the natural frequencies and loss factors of sandwich plate and validated with experimental results for cantilever boundary condition. The validated finite element model is then used to estimate the loss factors of sandwich plate with various boundary conditions and different thicknesses of constraining and constrained layer for a given base plate thickness. The results show that the loss factor is maximum for a constraining layer to sandwich plate thickness ratio of 0.40–0.45 and is independent of boundary condition. The loss factor increases with increase in thickness of the viscoelastic layer. The loss factor increases for higher mode for all boundary conditions.