Composire Structures 32 (1995) 33-38

0 1995 Elsevier Science Limited

0263-8223(95)00054-2
Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
0263-8223/95/$9.50
Vibration and damping analysis of beams with
composite coats
Ahmed Abd El-Hamid Hamada
Production Engineering & Mechanical Design Department, Faculty of Engineering, Menoujia University, Shebin El-Kom, Egypt
Numerical and experimental investigations of the dynamic behavior for
coated laminate composite beams has been presented and discussed in the
present work. A numerical technique is utilized to compute the eigen
parameters of coated laminated composite beams. An attempt to study the
variations in the natural frequencies and damping properties of laminated
composite coated beams taking into account different lamina orientation of
coat and various kinds of core isotropic material (steel and aluminium) is
introduced. The variations of the eigen parameters vs. the code number of
the coated layer with the use of various types of isotropic material are
measured by utilizing (the frequency response displayed on) an (FFT)
analyzer. The experimental and numerical work is carried out on four
different fiber orientations, aligned longitudinally, transversely, making 45
with the fibers direction and randomly oriented. Comparison between
experimental and numerical results shows a tight connection between them.
INTRODUCTION
Fiber reinforced composite materials have been
widely used in applications ranging from lami-
nated aircraft wings in the aeronautical industry
to the coating on brake pedal assemblies in the
automobile industry. The increasing usage of
composite materials as a coating of conven-
tional materials in structural applications is
attributed to their high strength to density
ratios, high resistance to fatigue, low coefficient
of friction, and the lotv damping capacities of
the high strength material. On the other hand
the use of laminated composite materials as a
coating for isotropic materials may well prove
valuable for structural purposes such as the
reduction of vibrations and noise in sheet metal
frames of machines and an increase in the wear
resistance at contact surfaces.-5
Coated laminated composites offer the com-
bined advantages such that the great stiffness
and strength of usual elastic sheets can be uti-
lized in the design to provide the needed
strength and to increase the total internal
damping in the structure.6-8 In the present
work, a constrained coated isotropic beam with
different lamina orientation of composite coats
of the core with various kinds of isotropic mate-
rial has been investigated numerically and
experimentally. The numerical work includes
the computation of the eigenfrequencies of
elastic constrained beams with different code
numbers in terms of the equivalent stiffness and
mass parameters. The experimental results in
frequency domain with the utilization of FFT
analyzer are listed and represented in various
curves.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
For a composite coated beam the equivalent
stiffness can be recast in the form:
E,I=C 2Ekb
J
dk+;2 dy,
(1)
k
d,
2b
c
=Tk=O,l.2..
&(&-&),
where E, can be expressed in terms of the on-
axis properties of the lamina serial E,l, E22,
33
34 A. A. El-Hamid Hamada
G12 and v12.10
1
+- n4
E22
(2)
where m = cos 8; n =sin 8.
Similarly the equivalent mass per unit length,
can be cast as:
m=C mk=C 2bpuk
s
d
k
k+dy,
k
4
=2b c
k=O,l,z.,. h(dk+rdk)*
(3)
where pk is the density of the k layer, and b is
the width of the beam and mk is the mass per
unit length of the Kth layer. Here the distance
from the neutral axis of the beam to the two
successive layers k and k + 1 is given by dk as
shown in Fig. 1.
NUMERICAL WORK
With the help of eqns (1) and (3), the natural
frequencies of the laminated coated beam can
be then expressed in the form:9
i=O,1,2,3...
(4)
where Ai is a function of the boundary condi-
tions and L is the length of the beam. The
eigen-pairs of the laminated coated beams in
terms of equivalent stiffness and mass are com-
Cross section at C-C
Z i
I-
b
-I
Y
t X
I-
L
-i
Fig. 1. A laminated composite coated beam.
puted and listed in Tables 3 and 4. Referring to
the mixture role, the mechanical properties of
composite unidirectional lamina of continuous
fiber glass reinforced plastics are calculated and
with the use of the Pagano-Tsail and Hu1113
models the properties of the random fiber are
calculated:
EC=+ E,+3 ET
(5)
Gc=$ E,+$ ET
The mechanical properties of composite unidir-
ectional lamina are calculated using mixture
role, and the numerical results for the glass/
polyester composite are listed in Table 1.
EXPERIMENTAL WORK
The test specimen is a laminated coated beam
dimensions 300 x 25 mm and thickness 7 mm.
The thickness of the coated layer of fiber glass
is 1 mm for each side of core beams, Fig. 2. The
fiber volume fraction is 0.54%. Eight specimens
were constructed and manufactured using the
hand lay out technique and the raw material
was obtained from the Arab Company for
Developed Materials, Maadi, Cairo.
The experimental apparatus is shown in Fig.
3. The specimen was mounted in a test rig and
excited by a B&K (8202) impact hammer, with
a force transducer type (8200) built into the tip
to register the force input.
The excitation signal was fed to the analyzer
through the charge amplifier (2635) at the end
and mid point position of the specimen where
all modes would be excited.
The resulting vibration response was regis-
tered by a piezoelectric accelerometer type
Table 1. Elastic moduli of E-glass/polyester unidirec-
tional composite lamina with l/f=034
Elastic modulus Resultant using
mixture rule
El1 (GW
h2 Wa)
G12 @Pa)
v12
40.00
:::
0.25
Vibration and damping analysis of coated beams
35
(4374) stuck on the desired measuring point of
the specimen by using beeswax. The acceler-
ometer signals were conditioned in the charge
amplifer and fed to the dual channel signal ana-
lyzer (2304). The analyzer, in conjunction with
the fast fourier transform (FFT), gives the
mathematical connection between time and fre-
quency, successively displaying the frequency
response spectrum (FRS) and the coherence
functions, registered in the given frequency
range as shown in Fig. 4.
MEASUREMENTS OF EIGEN PARAMETERS
OF COATED SPECIMENS
To study the effect of fiber lamina orientation
of coating and type of core isotropic material
(steel and aluminium) on the dynamic behavior
of coated beams, different boundary conditions
were imposed on the specimen under vibra-
tional systems mounted on the testing rig. The
specimen location in the test rig is ensured
using tightened clamped edges. Eight specimens
of steel and aluminium beams are coated with
four different fiber orientations, aligned longitu-
dinally, transversely, making 45 with the fiber
direction and randomly oriented. The ampli-
tudes were measured in the normalized form at
various points. The frequency response spec-
trum (FRS) displayed by the analyzer, the
average damping factor [ is utilized to estimate
Composite coated
Core isotropic material
I
7mm
f
Fig. 2. Dimensions of coated specimen beam test.
Dot. matrix
printer
ND-15
Desktop computer
five frequency bands assuming damping linear-
ity using half power band width. The damping
factor < of a particular resonance can be calcu-
lated from the width of the resonance peak in
the magnitude of the (FRF)14,15 and the form:
[= l/2&, Q=wlwd
Hence resonant frequency (wd) and the width
(w) can be found from the magnitude diagrams
using the reference cursor. The value of the
damping factor [ was plotted against frequency
and the effect of coated lamina orientation and
boundary conditions are studied and discussed
as shown in Figs 5 and 6.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The resonant frequencies, amplitudes and
damping factors of laminated coated beams
have been measured and analysed for different
lamina coating code numbers for two types of
core (steel and aluminium).
The frequency spectra of core and coated
steel beams are shown in Fig. 4; multi peaks
were monitored within the selected range fre-
quency.
Table 2 shows the variation of the funda-
mental frequency, amplitude and damping
factor for different coated beams and for two
core materials, steel and aluminium, using two
types of fixation. It can be indicated that the
amplitude of the specimen coated by 0 fiber
orientation is relatively low compared with the
others. This is due to the maximum stiffness at
this orientation. In contrast the amplitude of
the specimen coated by 90 fiber orientation is
relatively high compared with the others. This is
due to the minimum equivalent stiffness at this
orientation.
Dual channel
signal analyzer
2034
I I 1
Impact hammer
8202
Fig. 3. Instrumentation set-up formed from excitation and measuring systems.
36 A. A. El-Humid Hamada
W12 FREQ RESP HI MAG INPUT MAIN Y:
Y: -2.2dB 8Odb x: 160Hz
x: OHz + I.hkHz LIN
SETUP WI)* #A: 20
~-
Steel with [O] coated larnina
Wl2FREQRBSPHl MAG INPUT MAIN Y:
Y: 31.ldB 8Odb x: 141Hz
X: OHz + 8OOkHz LIN
WA: 20
Steel with [4S] coated lamina
W12 F,$ZQ RESP Hl
Y: 3.ldB 8Odb
X: C&z + 8OOkHz
#A: 20
MAG INPUT MAIN Y:
X: 140Hz
LIN
--
Steel with [90] coated lamina
W12 FREQ RBSP HI MAG INPUT MAIN Y:
Y: 6.9dB 8Odb X: 147Hz
X: OHz + EOOkHz LIN
SETUP W19* #A: 20
Steel with [random] coated lamina
W12 FREQ RESP HI MAG INPUT MAIN Y:
y: 7.OdB 8Odb X: 144Hz
X: OHz + 8OOkHz LIN
#A: 20
Steel without coating
29dB
42dB
45dB
35dB
Fig. 4. The frequency spectrum for core and coated
steel beam with different coat lamina orientation.
One interesting point to note from the results
listed in Table 2, Figs 5 and 6 is that the selec-
tion of composite coat code numbers has the
possibility to improve the damping capacities
without considerable variations in the natural
frequencies and vice versa for certain frequency
spectra and selected code numbers. The coated
fiber orientation layer of 13=90 decreases the
frequency of core steel material by 0.02% and
core aluminium by O-04%, while the variations
of damping due to the coating for both steel
0 without coating
Acoated with G-0
coated with e-90
coated with G-45*
coated with random
0
A
0.00 ti
13.5
FPuondolA%o, &!qu.G5cy (A;
165
Fig. 5. The variation of damping factor with fundamen-
tal frequency for steel core and different coated code
number.
*
0
Orithout cwting
Acoated with Q-O
coated with Q-90
coated with 0=45O
8 coated with random
J
0
A
0. 10 m
120 130 140 150 160 170 180 19C
Fundamental Frequency (Hz)
Fig. 6. The variation of damping factor with fundamen-
tal frequency for aluminum core and different coated
code number.
and aluminium are 20 and 2.33 times, respec-
tively.
Also, a coated fiber orientation layer of
8=45 decreases the frequency of core steel
material by 0.020% and core aluminum by
0.027% while the variations of damping due to
the coating for both steel and aluminium are 15
and 2.2 times, respectively.
In contrast, the frequency of the specimen
core metallic coated fiber orientation of 0=0
increases by 0.11% for steel and by 0.26% for
aluminium, while the variations of damping due
to the coating for both steel and aluminium are
5.75 and 1.66 times respectively. From Table 2,
Vibration and damping analysis of coated beams 37
Table 2. Values of fundamental frequency, amplitude and damping factor for different coated lamina (experimental
results)
Core
type
Steel
Alum.
Steel
Alum.
Boundary
condition
C-f
C-f
c-c
c-c
Freq.
Ampl.
Damp. Fat.
Freq.
Ampl.
Damp. Fat.
Freq.
AmpI.
Damp. Fat.
Freq.
AmpI.
Damp. Fat.
Without
coating
144 Hz
18 dB
o-004
143 Hz
25 dB
o-15
896 Hz
8 dB
0.002
895 Hz
12 dB
0.02
0=0
160 Hz
29 dB
0.023
181 Hz
42 dB
0.25
995 Hz
12 dB
0.012
1122 Hz
17 dB
0.06
Coated lamina orientation
0=90 8=45
140 Hz 141 Hz
45 dB 42 dB
0.08 0.06
137 Hz 139 Hz
66 dB 63 dB
0.35 0.33
883 Hz 894 Hz
21 dB 19 dB
0.040 0.03
871 Hz 878 Hz
34 dB 32 dB
O-16 0.14
Random
147 Hz
35 dB
0.030
145 Hz
53 dB
O-29
904 Hz
17 dB
0.015
906 Hz
26 dB
0.12
Table 3. Values of first five frequencies for core and coated steel using numerical and experimental method for different
boundary condition
Mode Boundary Steel without Coated steel
no condition coating
8=0 8=90 l3=45 Random
Method Num EXP
Num EXP Num EXP Num EXP Num EXP
I C-F 140.6 144 156 160 138 140 139.3 141 141 147
c-c 898.3 896 997.2 995 881 883 890.6 894 901 904
II C-F 884.4 889 981.7 986 874 879 876 880 878.5 881
c-c 2487 2493 2762 2767 2460 2464 2467 2470 2471 2474
III C-F 2477 2481 2750 2757 2449 2453 2456 2460 2486 2490
c-c 4858 4860 5392 5394 4802 4807 4815 4819 4875 4879
IV C-F 4856 4853 5390 5394 4800 4804 4814 4817 4873 4875
c-c 7170 7176 7948 7953 7087 7091 7108 7112 7196 7199
V C-F 8028 8025 8911 8916 7936 7941 7958 7964 8056 8061
c-c 12002 12007 13329 13333 11864 11870 11898 11896 12044 12047
where C=clamped; F=free.
Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, it is observed that the damp-
ing factor is small for coated orientation with
8=0 compared with the other code coat num-
bers. This is explained by the fact that fiber
orientations in these directions are expected to
increase the core beams stiffness. Also, for
coated orientations with 0=90, the damping
factor is high compared with the other orienta-
tions. This direction decreases the core beam
stiffness, where the maximum energy dissipation
results in a large system damping factor.
Therefore, according to practical require-
ment, the natural frequencies of metallic
components can be controlled by coating lami-
nated layers of various code numbers.
For the sake of comparison, the measured
and computed values of frequencies for two
cases of fixations (C-F, C-C) are listed in Tables
3 and 4.
The natural frequencies of the aluminium
coated beams with 6=0 are higher than those
of steel coated beams are indicated in Tables 3
and 4, from which it can be seen that the high-
est structural damping is for aluminium while
the lowest value of damping capacity was mon-
itored for steel beams as shown in Figs 5 and 6.
The comparison between the experimental
and numerical results of the frequencies indi-
cates a good agreement.
CONCLUSIONS
In the present study, the dynamic analysis of
various lamina coated orientations of glass/
polyester beams has been investigated
experimentally and verified numerically in terms
of equivalent stiffness and mass parameters. For
38 A. A. El-Humid Hamada
Table 4. Values of first five frequencies for core and coated aluminium using numerical and experimental method for
different boundary conditions
Mode Boundary
no condition
Method
Aluminium
without
coating
Num EXP
Coated aluminium
0=0 t3=90 8=45 Random
Num EXP Num EXP Num EXP Num EXP
I C-F 139.7 143 175 181 135 137 136.9 139 141 145
c-c 892.7 895 1120 1122 868 871 874 878 901.7 906
II C-F 878.8 882 1103 1107 840 843 861 865 887 889
c-c 2473 2478 3104 3109 2364 2370 2422 2426 2496 2499
III C-F 2462 2467 3090 3094 2395 2399 2412 2417 2487 2490
c-c 4827 4830 6060 6062 4696 4701 4730 4734 4875 4879
IV C-F 4825 4831 6057 6063 4695 4700 4728 4734 4874 4877
c-c 7125 7132 8944 8948 6932 6937 6982 6990 7200 7207
C-F 7977 7982 10014 10019 7761 7765 7816 7821 8057 8061
c-c 11927 11932 14947 14953 11603 11609 11686 11692 12046 12052
where C=clamped; F=free.
the sake of testing in the research laboratory,
various specimens of different coated lamina
orientation beams are efficiently fabricated by
utilizing a hand layout technique. The results
obtained from the present investigation showed
that the frequency response function (FRF) of
the tested specimens is a good key for charac-
terising the material response under various
dynamic conditions. From the present study one
can indicate that:
(1)
(2)
(3)
coated laminated beams provide high
damping capacities compared with iso-
tropic single metal beams;
the lamina coated code numbers have a
dominant effect on the quantitative
nature of the dynamic characteristics of
the structures;
in contrast to the dynamic behaviour of
composite structures,16 the experimental
and numerical results of the coated sam-
ples fabricated here, indicate the
possibilities to improve the damping
capacities without considerable variations
in the natural frequencies of the structure
within a certain frequency spectrum and
a selected coated code number, (and vice
versa) as shown in Table 2, Figs 5 and 6.
The result is that the present technique
provides an efficient tool for the control
of dynamic structures.
REFERENCES
1. Ahmed, M. K., Dynamic analysis of sandwich beams.
J. Sound & Vibration, 21(1972) 263-72.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Chandrashekhara, K. & Bangera, K. M., Vibration of
symmetrically laminated clamped-free beam with a
y3y;ga: the free end. J. Sound & Vibration, 160 (1993)
Khalil, A. & Mohamed, K. B., Vibration character-
istics of sandwich beams, 3rd I nt. Ain-Shams University
Conf Production Engineeting & Design for Develop-
ment, Cairo, Dec. 1990, pp. 93-100.
Crema, L. B. & Castellani, A., Experimental tests for
damping measurements on several short glass fiber
composites. J. Comp. Mat., 23 (1989) 978-87.
Maher, A., Evaluative eigen analysis of composite
structures. J. Comp. Struct., 29 (1994) 191-5.
Chen, A. T. & Yang, T. Y., Static and dynamic for-
mulation of a symmetrically laminated beam finite
element for a microcomputer. J. Comp. Mat., 19
(1985) 459-75.
AIam, N. & Asnani, N. T., Vibration and damping
analysis of fiber reinforced composite material cylin-
drical shells. J. Comp. Mat., 21 (1987) 348-61.
Bassiouni, A. S., Gad-Elrab, R. M. & Elmahdy, T. H.,
Dynamic analysis of laminated composite beams. In
Proc. 6th AMME Conf., May 1994, pp. 68-78.
Blevins, R. D., Formulas for Natural Frequency and
Mode Shape, Litton Educational Publishing Inc., New
York, 1979.
Jones, R. M., Mechanics of Composite Materials.
Scripta Book Co., Washington, 1975.
Bhagwan, D. A. & Lawrence, .I. B., Analysis and per-
formance of fiber composites. John Wiley & Sons
Inc., NY, 1990.
Ashton, J. E, Halpin, J. C. & Petit, P. H., Primer on
Composite Materials Analysis, Technomic Publishing
Co. Inc, Lancaster, PA, 1969, pp. 83-4.
Hull, D., An I ntroduction to Composite Materials.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK 1981,
pp. 81-9.
Goldman, S., Vibration Spectrum Analysis: A Practical
Approach, Industrial Press Inc, New York, 1991.
Zaveri, K. & Phil, M., Modal Analysis of Large Struc-
tures, Brul & Kjaer, Denmark, 1985.
Maher, A., Soaly, E., Ghoneam, S. & Hamada, A.,
Eigen analysis of fiber reinforced composite plates. J.
Comp. Struct., 25 (1993) 521-8.