Axisymmetric dynamic stability of sandwich circular plates

The axisymmetric dynamic stability of sandwich circular plates with a constrained damping layer treatment subjected to a periodic uniform radial loading along the outer edge of the host plate is studied by the discrete layer annular finite element method. The viscoelastic material with frequency dependent properties in the damping layer is assumed to be incompressible, and the extensional and shear moduli are described by complex quantities. The regions of dynamic instability are determined by Bolotin's method while two eigenvalue problem systems with frequency dependent parameters are formed. The modified complex eigensolution method is employed to solve the eigenvalue problems. Numerical results are shown that the constrained damping layer attached to circular plates tends to stabilize the circular plate system. The effects of various parameters, such as types of viscoelastic material response, treatment thickness and area, on dynamic stability are also investigated. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.