Journal of Sound and Vibration (1977) 50(2), 229-237

OPTIMAL DESIGN OF A COMPOSITE-MATERIAL PLATE

TO MAXIMIZE ITS FUNDAMENTAL FREQUENCY

C. W. BERT
Schoolof Aerospace, Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering,
The University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73069, U.S.A.

(Received 27 January 1976, and in revised form 20 September 1976)

A rationale is presented for determining the optimal laminate design for a thin plate
consisting of multiple layers of e&-thickness composite material. The optimal design
criterion is maximization of the fundamental frequency of small-amplitude, free flexural
vibration. The rationale is applied to simply supported rectangular plates of carbon-fiber-
reinforced plastic (CFRP) as a function of plate aspect ratio. Furthermore, comparative
optimal frequency data are given for plates of three practically important plate aspect
ratios and laminated of four unidirectional filament-reinforced composite materials:
all having epoxy matrices and fibers of boron (BFRP), carbon (CFRP), glass (GFRP)
and organic fiber (OFRP).

1. INTRODUCDON
Proponents of the structural use of composite materials claim as one of their potential
advantages the capability of being tailored by proper orientation of the filaments in the various
layers to optimize the desired structural behavior. In comparison to the numerous plate
analyses available in the literature reviewed in reference [l], very little information is available
that is directly useful to a designer wishing to synthesize an optimal design. Hayashi [2] and
Chen and Bert [3] presented syntheses for maximization of uniaxial buckling load and Bert
and Chen [4] presented an analogous one for biaxial buckling load. In those works, it was
assumed that the plate consisted of many layers.
In the case of homogeneous, isotropic materials, the only design variable available to
optimize the fundamental frequency of a rectangular plate is variation of the plate thickness,
as was considered by Olhoff [5]. However, in the case of rectangular plates consisting of
multiple layers of fiber-reinforced composite material, the designer has another alternative to
expensive thickness contouring: namely, lamination arrangement. To the best of the present
investigators knowledge, this is the first optimal design synthesis of laminated composite-
material plates to maximize fundamental frequency.

2. OPTIMIZATION RATIONALE AND SYNTHESIS FORMULATION

The Reissner-Stavsky theory, published in 1961 [6], is now well established as being
adequate for engineering use in linear analyses of laminated, anisotropic, thin, elastic plates.
It was applied by Whitney and Leissa [7] to the determination of the fundamental frequency
(UQ) of free vibration of both unsymmetric cross-ply and angle-ply plates simply supported
on all four edges. Their results for a square plate showed that, provided there is a sufficient
number of layers, the optimal angle-ply lamination scheme (alternating + 6 = 45 for a square
plate) always results in a higher cc, than the cross-ply one.
In most practical cases, it is not feasible from the standpoints of manufacturing costs,
warping avoidance and panel weight to use many alternating angle-ply (AAP) layers. Then
229
230 C. W. BERT

a practical solution [8, 93 is to use what is called a symmetric balanced angle-ply (SBAP)
laminate: e.g., 0/-0/-0/e.
In view of the above considerations as well as previous consideration [3,4] of the uniaxial
and biaxial buckling stiffnesses of plates with parallel ply, cross-ply, AAP, SBAP and quasi-
isotropic layups, one arrives at the following conclusion: the SBAP layup is the stiffest
from a fundamental frequency standpoint for plates of intermediate aspect ratio R, while 0
parallel ply is stiffest for low-R plates and 90 parallel ply is stiffest for high-R plates. Here
R zz u/b, where a, b are the plate dimensions in the x and y directions along the plate edges.
(A list of nomenclature is given in Appendix III.)
The following general equation for the natural frequencies (w) of any symmetrically
laminated, thin, rectangular plate simply supported on all sides is derived in Appendix I :
d = (n/a)* (ph)- (D,, m4 + 2D,, Rm3 n + D, RZ mz n2 + 2D,, R3 mn3 + Dz2 P n4), (1)
where h is the plate thickness, m and n are modal half-wave numbers in the x and y directions,
p is the plate material density, the D,, are the standard composite material-mechanics nota-
tions [lo] for the plate flexural and twisting rigidities related to the x, y co-ordinates, and
Dk = 2(D,, + 2Dss). (2)
By inspection of equation (I), one finds that the fundamental or lowest natural frequency
(o,), for a simply supported plate is always the one associated with the lowest modal numbers :
m = 1, n = 1. Then equation (1) may be rewritten as follows:

w; = (z/u)4(ph)-1 (D,, + 2D16 R + Dt R2 + 2026 R3 + Dz2 P). (3)

Using constants U, analogous to those used by Tsai and Pagan0 [1 11, one can express the
Ds for SBAP laminates as follows :

Dll, & = c( u, + u2 COS 28 + us COS#),

D16, Dz6 = -CJ~(~U, sin 28 k U3 sin 48), Dk = C(2U, - 6U,cos40), (4)

where
C = h3/12rZ (5)
and the laminate bending-twisting coupling parameter L depends on N, the number of plies;
see Appendix II. The constants I and the U, can be expressed in terms of the usual orthotropic
elastic properties for an individual ply as follows :
1=1 _VLTVTL, U, =(3/g)& + R,) + (1/4)&v,, + (1/2)AGt~,
U2 = UP) 6% - ~9, U3=(1/8)(E,+E,I-(1/4)E,v,,-(1/2)LG,,. (6)
Here EL and ET are the major and minor Youngs moduli (L and T directions parallel and
perpendicular to the fiber direction), v=r and vrL (= vLTET/&) are the major and minor
Poissons ratios, and GLTis the shear modulus associated with the L, Taxes.
It is convenient to introduce a fundamental frequency parameter (a,) defined as follows:
a; = w~u/x)* @h/C). (7)
Substituting equations (4) and (7) into equation (3), one obtains the following expression :
Zi$=(l+R2)2U~+(l-1(4)U2cos28+(l-6R2+R)U3~~4fI
- +LR(l + R2) U, sin 28 - LR(1 - R2) U, sin 40. (8)
For a given composite material (characterized by U,, U2 and U,) and plate aspect ratio (R),
the synthesis problem is to determine the optimal value of t9 which results in a maximum
value of Ef.
 OPTIMAL DESIGN OF CXMPOSITE PLATE 231

3. GENERAL SYNTHESIS
One method of determining the optimal value of @isby direct substitutional trial and error.
However, this approach is very time consuming. Another more rational approach is to set
the derivative of the right side of equation (8) equal to zero. This results in a general quartic
equation with all five terms present, for ~0~20,. Furthermore, additional computation or
direct substitution is necessary to determine whether or not the value of 0, obtained results
in a relative maximum.
To circumvent the above computational difficulties, the present investigator has devised an
efficient method which yields results sufficiently accurate for engineering purposes. First,
one omits the terms containingL in equation (8) and then sets the derivative of the remaining
portion of the right side of equation (8) equal to zero. Then, recalling that sin48 =
2sin28cos213, one obtains the following result:
sin 20(cos 28 - K) = 0, (9)
where
K = {(p - l)/(R* - 6R2 + 1)) {&/4&). (10)
Application of equation (9) results in three different regions of R classified according to the
relationships for the optimal angle (I,,,,:
RegionI:K> l,&,,,=O;
Region II: 1 > K> -1, &,, = 0, +arccosK, 90;
Region III: -1 2 K, e,,, = 90.
The general computational procedure is as follows for a plate of given material parameters
U, and aspect ratio R.
1. Using equation (lo), calculate K.
2. IfKa l,t&,,=Oand
73,2,,=(1+R2)2CJ,+(1-R*)U2+(1-6R2+R4)UJ. (11)
IfKG-1,8,,,=90and
w
-OPt =(1+R2)2U1-(1 -R)U,+(l -6R2+R)U,. (12)

If I > K > -1, calculate E2 corresponding to 0, tarccos K and 90, using equations
(Ii), (8) and (12), respectively. The largest of these three values is optimal and the
corresponding value of 0 is e,,,,.
For the special case of R = 1, the equations reduce to the following simple result:
e,,, = 450, &$ = 4u, - LU, + 4u,. (13)
The 45 value for eopl for R = 1 is in agreement with the numerical results of Whitney and
Leissa [7] for a BFRP plate and with the analytical result of Flygare [12].

4. APPLICATJON TO A SPECIFIC COMPOSITE MATERIAL

With the properties of CFRP taken as listed in Table 1, the general procedure developed
in section 3 was applied to a four-ply SBAP laminate (L = 3/4) for various values of R.
For values of R ranging from 0 up to approximately 0.57, K > 1; thus, Region I is defined
by 0 Q R 6 0.57. For A given by 0.57 < R < 1.72, it is found that 1 > K > -1 (Region II).
Within Region II, the following sub-regions were found:
0.57 < R < 0.76, &,,, = 0;
0.76 < R .Z 1.34, o,,p,= +kUCcOS K (varies with R);
1.346 R< 1.72, e,,, = 900.
232 C. W. BERT

TABLE 1
Individual-ply material properties

Composite material
r

BFRP CFRP GFRP OFRP

EL (lo6 lb/W) 30.0 30.0 7.8 11-o
ET (106 lb/in2) 3.0 0.75 2.6 0.8
GLr (106 lb/in2) 1-o 0.375 1.3 o-3
vLT(dimensionless)t 0.30 0.25 o-25 o-34
pg (lb/in) O-068 0.055 O-072 O-050

t It is assumed that vTLis given by vIL= (ET/EL)vLT.

Plate aspect mt10, R

Figure 1. Elk% of plate aspect ratio and composite material on optimal ply orientation angle.

Plate aspect ratio

Figure 2. Efkt of plate aspect ratio and composite material on optimal-design frequency parameter.

Finally, for R > l-72, &,, = 90 (Region III). Figures 1 and 2 show the results as well as
those for a many-ply SBAP laminate (L = 0).

5. APPLICATION TO MATERIAL SJ%F!CTION

Optimal frequency parameter G&, is convenient for optimizing the lamination arrange-
ment for a plate laminated of a specific composite material. However, for comparing the
fundamental-frequency performance of optimally designed plates made of difkrent com-
posite materials, the following frequency parameter is more appropriate because it takes
into account material parameters L and p: 62= (ti/fl)(&&,,/m.
 OPTJMAL
DESIGNOF CGMPGSITE
PLATE 233
For purposes of comparison three typical values of aspect ratio R were selected:
Low (Region I): 0.25;
Medium (Region II): l-00 (square);
High (Region III): 400.
With the material properties taken as listed in Table 1 and equations (6)and (10X14), the
factor a was calculated for BFRP, CFRP, GFRP and OFRP. The results are tabulated in
Table 2 along with corresponding results for isotropic material typical of most metallic
alloys, such as steel or aluminum, with (E/pg)1/2 z IO-2 x 103inlIz and O-3for Poissons ratio.

TABLE2
Comparative optimal fun&mental frequency ahta for simply supported rectangular plates of
various materials and aspect ratios
Comparative fundamental frequencyi
I A \
Aspect
ratio R Material : BFRF CFRP GFRP OFRP Isotropic
0.25 099 l-15 o-50 0.70 0.53
l-00 1.35 l-42 0.76 0.93 l-00
400 15.9 17.6 8-l 11.2 8.50
t Based on a value of 1.00 for a plate of square planform (R = 1) and isotropic material. For this case, the
actual value of R is I.197 x 106in-rad/s.

It can be seen from Table 2 that the parameter Q increases with increasing plate aspect
ratio and is greatest for CFRP, followed by BFRP, OFRP and GFRP, which is very close
to the typical isotropic material.

6. CONCLUSIONS
The rational design procedure presented in this paper can be used to determine the laminated
composite-material plate design resulting in the highest value of its fundamental frequency.
Although the equations presented are applicable to rectangular plates simply supported on
all edges, the same design rationale can be extended to plates of any planform shape with any
boundary conditions desired.
Application of the specific equations to plates of four popular filamentary composite
materials indicated that the optimal fundamental frequency parameter is a strong function of
the plate aspect ratio and composite material.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author acknowledges the assistance of Gordon Flygare, Major, U.S.A.F., former
graduate student in Aerospace Engineering, who first obtained a synthesis in analytical form
for the special case of a many layered square plate.
The author is grateful to the reviewers for their constructive criticism.

REFERENCES

1. C. W. BERT1974 in StructuralDesignandAruzlysis, Part I(C. C. Chamis, editor) New York, N.Y. :

Academic Press, pp. 149-m. Analysis of plates.
2. T. HAYMEJI1974 Fukugo Zairyo Kenkyu 3, 18-U). Optimum design of cross- and angle-plied
laminated composite plates under compression.
3. T. L.C. CHeNandC. W.BERT 1976Proceedingsofthe0k1ahomaAcademyofScience56,104-107.
Design of composite-material plates for maximum uniaxial compressive buckling load.
234 C. W. BERT

4. C. W. BERT and T. L. C. CHEN 1976 i%msactions of the Japan Society for Composite Materials
2, 7-10. Optimal design of composite-material plates to resist buckling under biaxial com-
pression.
5. N. OLHOFP 1974 International Journal of Solids and Structures 10,93-110. Optimal design of
vibrating rectangular plates.
6. E. REISSNERand Y. STAVSKY1961 Journal of Applied Mechanics 28, Transactions of American
Society of Mechanical Engineers 83,402408. Bending and stretching of certain types of hetero-
geneous aeolotropic elastic plates.
7. J. M. WHITNEY and A. W. LENA 1969 Journal of Applied Mechanics 36, Transactions of American
Society of Mechanical Engineers 91, 261-266. Analysis of heterogeneous anisotropic plates.
8. B. E. KAMNSKI and J. E. ASHTON 1971 Journal of Composite Materials 5, 553-558. Diagonal
tension behavior of boron-epoxy shear panels.
9. S. TANG 1976 Journal of Composite Materials 10,69-78.Interlaminar stresses of uniformly
loaded rectangular composite plates.
10. R. M. JONES1975 Mechanics of Composite Materials. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Book
Company, Inc.
11. S. W. TSAI and N. J. PAGANO1968 in Composite Materials Workshop (S. W. Tsai, J. C. Halpin
and N. J. Pagano, editors) Stamford, Connecticut: Technomic, pp. 233-263. Invariant properties
of composite materials.
12. G. FLY~ARE 1975 Private communication (1 May).
13. S. G. LEKHNITSKII 1959 Anisotropic Plates. English translation. New York, N.Y. : Gordon and
Breach, second edition. See section 92.
14. A. W. LEI~~A1969 NASA SP-160. Vibration of plates. !3ee chapter 9.
15. M. J. MAURIZI and P. A. LAURA 1973 Journal of Sound and Vibration 26, 299-305. Vibration
analysis of clamped, rectangular plates of generalized orthotropy.
16. J. E. ASHTON and M. E. WADDOUPS1969 Journal of Composite Materials 3, 148-165. Analysis
of anisotropic plates.
17. J. M. WHITNEY1972 Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 52,448449. Free vibration of
anisotropic rectangular plates.
18. A. E. GREEN 1940 Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 40, 222-228. Double
Fourier series and boundary value problems.

APPENDIX I: DEVELOPMENT OF EQUATION (1)

The following closed-form expression for the natural frequency associated with mode
numbers m and n of a rectangular orthotropic plate with simply supported edges is well
known (cf. Lekhnitskii [131):

w2 = (n/a)* (ph)- (D,, m4 + Dk R2 m2 n2 + Dz2 R4 n*). (Al)

By dimensional analysis, one can show that the analogous equation for the fundamental
frequency of an anisotropic plate is as follows :

w2 = (n/u)* (ph)- [DII + c(DIc R + D2e R3) + Dr R + D22 R].

Since no closed-form solution is known for this case (c.f. Leissa [14]), one must resort to
approximate solutions to determine the value of the coefficient R. Although the present
author knows of no results for this case? presented in the form of equation (A2), it is possible
to utilize approximate results to obtain c. Figure 3 shows convergence plots for the dimension-
less fundamental frequency w;, defined in the present notation as

w; E (d/h) @L/E,),

7 For the case of clamped e, Manrizi and Laura [15] used the Galerkin method to obtain an equation
of the same form as equation (A2), but, of course, with d@erent values for the coagicients.
 OPTIMALDESIGNOF COMPOSITEPLATE 235

Ashton ond Woddoups

Whitney

13 -
h L
1 I I I I

I 3 5 7 9 II 13

Double wes ndex

Figure 3. Convergence plots for the dimensionless fundamental frequency of a 45degree parallel-ply
CFRP square plate.

for a square plate (R = 1) of 45 off-axis parallel-ply graphite-epoxy composite material

having these dimensionless ply stiffnesses :

EJE, = 25, vLI = 0.25, AGLT/ET = 0.5. (A4)

The upper curve in Figure 3 is a plot of numerical results obtained by Ashton and Waddoups
[16] using the Rayleigh-Ritz energy technique, which has been proven to provide an upper
bound to the exact solution. The lower curve was plotted from numerical results obtained by
Whitney [17] using Greens classical Fourier analysis [18], which is believed to give a lower
bound.
It is noted that the absolute value of the slope of the lower curve is appreciably smaller
than that of the upper one. Thus, the exact value should lie closer to the lower curve. It is
believed that a value of approximately 15 is a good estimate of CD;.
Noting that L = 1 for a parallel-ply laminate and using equation (AZ) and the transforma-
tion equations for the stiffnesses [lo], one can obtain the following expression for a square
plate :
w; = 1~~(24)-~[4(EL/ET) + 4 - c(& E:l- l)]*. (A5)

By substituting CD;= 15 and the ratios given in equations (A4) into equation (A5), one obtains
a value of 2.023 for c. Thus, a value of c = 2, which corresponds to w; = 15.07, was used in
equation (1).
It is emphasized that although coefficient c is positive, the net effect of shear coupling is to
reduce the fundamental frequency, since the bending-twisting coupling stiffness (& or D2,J
which is larger in absolute. value is always negative in sign and usually both are negative.
236 C. W. BERT

APPENDIX II: DERIVATION OF EXPRESSION FOR THE BENDING-TWISTING

COUPLING PARAMETER L FOR A SBAP LAMINATE

The bending-twisting coupling stiffnesses D16 and Dz6are de&red as

h/Z
D,, = I 2 Q,, iz (ij = 16,26). (A6)
-hlZ

Assuming uniform macroscopic properties through the thickness of each individual ply,
one can rewrite equation (A6) as follows :

D,,= l/3 z (z; - z;-t) Q:; (ii = 16,26). (A?)

k-l

Taking advantage of the symmetry about the midplane, one may rewrite the above equa-
tions in the following forms :
h/2 WI2
D,,= 2
I
0
22 Q,j dz = 2/3 kzl (z: - z:-1) Q:; (ij = 16,26). W-0

From the angular transformations for Q,, and Q26, it is noted that
Q,,(-e) = -Q,,(e) (ij = 16,26). (A?)
Using equations (AS) and (A9), one obtains
DM = (213) WJ/2)3- (h/2 - h/W31Q&)
- (2/3) [(h/2 - /z/N)~ - (h/2 - a/N)] Ql,(6) + . . .. (AlO)

(There is an analogous equation for D26, which is identical except that all of the 16 subscripts
are replaced by 26.)
Equation (AlO) may be written in the following summation form:

DM = (2/3) h3 Q&I) [(l/2)3 + 2 *F (l/2 - /c/N)~ (-l)k]. (Al 1)

k-1.2.. . .

In dimensionless form, equation (Al 1) becomes

*N-l

L E 12DJh Qls(6) = 1 + 2 2 (1 - ~Jc/N)~(-~)~. (Al2)

k-l, 2, . . .

It is more convenient to write the series expression, equation (A12), in the following form:
L= (3N2- 4F)/N3, (A13)
where
0 if N/2 is even,
FS (A14)
1 if N/2 is odd.

APPENDIX III : NOMENCLATURE

plate length in x direction
b plate width in y direction
c h3/1U
C dimensionless coetBcient introduced in equation (A2)
D,J plate bending@= 11,12,22), bending-twlstingcouplin&== 16,26)andtwistingrigiditics
(ii= 66) related to the x, y-co-ordinate system
 OPTIMAL DESIGN OF COMPOSITEPLATE 237
4
EL Youngsmodulus of individual ply in direction parallel to fibers
ET Youngsmodulus of individual ply in direction perpendicular to fibers
F factor de&red in equation (A14)
GLT ply shear modulus associated with axes parallel and perpendicular to fibers
gravitational acceleration (386 in/s2)
fl plate thickness
K factor defined in equation (10)
k index referring to a typical layer
L laminate bending-twisting coupling parameter
m,n number of half waves in x and y directions, respectively
N total number of plies
QIJ plane-stress reduced stiffness coefficients, detined as in reference [lo]
R plate aspect ratio (Z u/b)
Ul stiffness parameters (i = 1,2,3) deiined in equation (6)
Z thickness-direction position co-ordinate, measured from the laminate midplane
zk, zk-1 z-co-ordinates of the top and bottom surfaces of the kth layer
A 1 - VLT VTL
VLT ply Poissons ratio associated with lateral contraction due to loading parallel to fibers
VTL ply Poissons ratio associated with lateral contraction due to loading perpendicular to fibers
P material density
e ply orientation angle
ewt value of e resulting in maximimtion of CD,
8 optimal fundamental frequency parameter delved in equation (14)
natural frequency
fundamental natural frequency-
fundamental natural frequency parameter defined in equation (7)
dimensionless fundamental frequency defined in equation (AS)
maximum value of cB,