Vibration Analysis of Tapered Composite Materials

Tapered composite beams formed by
terminating or dropping-off some of the plies from primary
structure are being used in various engineering
applications. Because of their structural tailoring
capabilities, damage tolerance and potential for creating
significant weight savings in helicopter yoke, robot arms
and turbine blades, tapered composite beams have received
much attention from engineers and researchers. Design of
mechanical components using tapered composite beams
requires a better understanding of their behavior on free
and forced vibrations.Free and forced vibration analysis
including the effects of axial force and damping of tapered
composite beams is conducted using conventional, and
higher-order finite elements and the Rayleigh-Ritz method.
Composite beam samples are manufactured and tested for the
determination of mechanical properties and damping loss
factor.A detailed parametric study is conducted to
investigate the effects of boundary conditions, laminate
configuration, taper configurations, taper angle, the ratio
of the length of the thick section to the length of thin
section, axial force, and damping.