Free vibrations of laminated composite cylindrical shells with an interior rectangular plate

The free vibration analysis of a laminated composite cylindrical shell with an interior rectangular plate is performed by the analytical and experimental methods. The frequency equations of vibration of the shell including, the plate are formulated by using the receptance method. To obtain the free vibration characteristics before the combination of two structures, the energy principle based on the classical plate theory and Love's thin shell theory is adopted. The numerical results are compared with the results from an experiment, as well as a finite element analysis, to validate the current formulation. The influences of the length-to-radius ratio (L-S/a) and radius-to-thickness ratio (a/h(S)) of the shell and fiber orientation angles (Theta) of symmetric cross- and angle-ply composite materials on the natural frequencies of a cylindrical laminated combined shell are also discussed in details. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.