JOURNAL OF

COMPOSITE
Article M AT E R I A L S
Journal of Composite Materials
0(0) 1–14
! The Author(s) 2017
The effect of prestress force magnitude on Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
the natural bending frequencies of the DOI: 10.1177/0021998317740202
journals.sagepub.com/home/jcm
eccentrically prestressed glass fibre
reinforced polymer composite beams

Anita Orlowska1, Cezary Graczykowski1 and Adam Galezia2

Abstract
This paper studies the effect of prestress force magnitude on natural frequencies and dynamic behaviour of eccentrically
prestressed glass fibre reinforced polymer composite beams, including the theoretical background, numerical results and
experimental verification. The term prestress indicates the initial tensile stress applied to the fibres embedded in selected
external layers of the composite material. First, the paper presents the theoretical background of the finite element
method modelling of prestressed composites. Then, the results of numerical simulations conducted for a five-layered
glass-epoxy composite beam are presented. The natural frequencies corresponding to three initial bending modes are
analyzed for different prestressing force levels and for different fibre volume content. Finally, the results are verificated by
experimental modal analysis conducted on three different glass-epoxy composite specimens of various mechanical
parameters. Both the numerical results obtained from finite element method and the experimental results obtained
from experimental modal analysis reveal that the first bending frequency increases and the two subsequent bending
frequencies decrease due to the prestressing force. The comparison of numerical and experimental data confirms the
effect and allows to quantify the influence that the prestress force has on the natural frequencies of composites, which is
an interesting and practically relevant phenomenon.

Keywords
Prestressed structures, laminated composites, prestressed reinforced composites, glass fibre reinforced polymer com-
posite materials, vibrations, finite element method

Introduction self-equilibrated state of stress in the composite,

The concept of increasing strength capacity of
structural elements by introducing preliminary stresses
that counteracts the exploitation stresses has been
known for years. A large number of applications
(e.g. reinforced concrete beams and slabs) of pre-
stressed materials in civil engineering prove that
proper compression of material can effectively increase
the strength of structural elements.
The term prestressing used in this article indicates
the application of initial tensile stress to the fibres
embedded in selected layers of the fibre reinforced
composite. By the similarity to reinforced concrete
structures, initial prestressing of the fibres and their
further release after resin matrix solidification produces
a clamping load which causes compressive stresses
in the matrix. The entire procedure generates initial
which modifies its response to external loading. In the
case of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composite of a
complex construction composed of layers of various
mechanical properties, the applied loading may cause
a very complex mechanical behaviour including
coupling between tension, bending and twisting.
Mechanical behaviour of such type of prestressed
structural elements can be difficult to predict, but
1
Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Polish Academy of
Sciences, Poland
2
Warsaw University of Technology, Institute of Vehicles, Poland
Corresponding author:
Anita Orlowska, Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Polish
Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego 5B, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland.
Email: aorlow@ippt.pan.pl
2 Journal of Composite Materials 0(0)
simultaneously the application of prestress in layered
composites gives interesting possibilities for developing
their shape and mechanical properties.1
The first publications concerning the analysis of
mechanical properties of prestressed FRP composites
appeared in the late 1990s. Since then, many publica-
tions have confirmed the potential advantages of FRP
composites prestressing, such as the improvement of
load-carrying capacity of composite elements,2–6 the
reduction of thermally induced residual tensile stress
resulting from the cure cycle7,8 or fibre misalignment.9
It has also been proved that prestressed composites are
characterized by a longer (the improvement of) fatigue
life7 and better resistance to stiffness degradation in the
fatigue region.10,11 A comprehensive literature review,
focused on the manufacturing and mechanical proper-
ties of fibre prestressed polymer-matrix composites, was
presented by Mostafa et al.12
Although the literature concerning the influence of
prestressing on static behaviour of FRP composites is
quite extensive, there are no publications discussing the
dynamics of such structures. In particular, the influence
of the preliminary stress on their modal characteristics
and mode shapes has not been properly acknowledged
nor described. On the other hand, there are several
papers related to the natural frequencies of prestressed
concrete structures. Some authors13–15 conclude that
the natural vibration frequencies of prestressed con-
crete structures tend to decrease as the magnitude of
the prestressing force increases. This is known as a
‘‘compression-softening’’ effect and is based on Euler-
Bernoulli beam theory of an externally axially loaded
homogenous beam. Other authors suggest that the nat-
ural frequencies of prestressed concrete structures
remain unaffected by prestressing force magnitude.16,17
Moreover, there is also an argument that the natural
frequencies of the prestressed concrete structures
increase with the prestressing force magnitude.18–20
An interesting piece of work, related to the
experimental research on prestressed concrete beams
dynamics, is presented by Noble et al.21 The authors
describe experiments conducted on nine concrete beams
differing among each other by the prestressing strand
location. The beams were prestressed with various force
levels and experimental modal analysis was conducted
for each prestress level. The results were carefully ana-
lyzed with the use of linear regression model. It was
found that for six of the nine beams there was no
statistically significant change in fundamental bending
frequency corresponding to prestressing force
magnitude; whereas only three beams showed statistic-
ally significant increase in fundamental bending
frequency. Despite rich experimental material, the
authors concluded that no non-random systematic
change, allowing for the identification of a direct
relationship between prestressing strand eccentricity
and fundamental bending frequency, was observed.
The increase of the natural frequencies along with the
increase of the prestressing force magnitude was
concluded from empirical studies and also presented
in several other publications.18–20 No satisfactory math-
ematical model predicting the increase of natural fre-
quencies, as the effect of structure prestressing, has been
formulated20 yet.
On the other hand, according to the author’s know-
ledge, the numerical procedures for the modal analysis
of prestressed structures are also not sufficiently well
described in the scientific literature. Most of the clas-
sical structural dynamics handbooks22,23 as well as
finite element method (FEM) handbooks24,25 focus
exclusively on the modal analysis of standard (non-pre-
stressed) structures but do not extend the consider-
ations on the case of initial prestressing.
This paper describes the outcomes of numerical
FEM-based simulations and results of experimental
modal analysis conducted on prestressed FRP compos-
ite specimens. Both numerical and experimental ana-
lysis take into account the change of composite
geometry and the generation of stresses caused by pres-
tress and their influence on the natural frequencies of
the composite. Let us note that numerical modelling
allows for the evaluation of the models varying exclu-
sively by prestressing force value, while in laboratory
experiment the specimens with various prestress levels
can differ by miscellaneous manufacturing factors, such
as details of geometric parameters and boundary con-
ditions which may strongly affect natural frequencies of
the composite.
Finite element model formulation
In this section, basic equations governing static and
dynamic response of the prestressed composites will
be described. Although the constitutive equation will
be assumed as linear elastic, the large deformation of
the structure will be considered. The proposed model
will be based on layer-wise (LW) method which utilizes
three-dimensional modelling of each layer of the com-
posite and does not directly apply classical kinematic
hypotheses of the plate theory. Consequently, the
numerical solution of the static and dynamic problems
will be obtained with the use of FEM and three-dimen-
sional solid elements.
The constitutive equation for the prestressed mater-
ial can be defined in Voight notation as
p ¼ D ð e  e o Þ þ po ð1Þ
where p is total stress vector, D is material constants
matrix connecting stresses and strains, e is elastic strain
Orlowska et al.
vector, eo and po are initial strain and initial stress vec-
tors, respectively. The above equation remains valid
both for the case of small and large deformation of
the considered structure.
In the case of small displacement theory, the relation
between strains and stresses takes a simple form
e  e0 ¼ Dðu  uo Þ ð2Þ
where D denotes first-order linear differential operator
including derivatives with respect to space variables. On
the basis of stress-based equilibrium equation, consti-
tutive equation (1) and linear geometrical strain-displa-
cement relationships (2), we obtain classical
displacement-based equilibrium equations. They can
be further transformed into weak form being the vari-
ational formulation of the problem. Finally, by the use
of Galerkin method we arrive at FEM equations
describing small deformations of a prestressed body
K0 q þ R0 ¼ P ð3Þ
where
. q and P are nodal displacements and forces vectors,
. K0 is the global linear stiffness matrix composed of
element matrices K(e) defined as
Z
K ðeÞ ¼ BT D B dV ð4Þ
V
where B is a so-called strain matrix involving deriva-
tives of elements’ shape functions and V is the volume
of the finite element,
. Ro expresses internal elastic forces resulting from
prestress and is composed of element vectors R0ðeÞ
given in the form
Z V
R0ðeÞ ¼ BT p0 dV ð5Þ
V which is similar to equation (4), but the integration is
Considering exclusively the problem of prestressing, we
assume the external force P equal zero and we obtain a
simple equation
K0 q ¼ R0 ð6Þ
which can be directly solved in order to obtain
displacement vector q that describes the deformation
caused by initial prestress. The above linear finite elem-
ent equilibrium equation refers to fully linear model in
which geometrical nonlinear effects are neglected.
3
Nevertheless, such approach correctly describes a
large class of prestressed structures.
Let us however note that in many situations, the
applied initial stress causes large deformation of the
structure. In such cases the actual stiffness can be sig-
nificantly affected by both deformation of the structure
and the state of stress generated during prestressing. In
order to describe such effects, a geometrically nonlinear
formulation of the problem has to be used.
In the case of large displacements theory, the rela-
tion between strains and stresses takes the form
e  e0 ¼ Dðu  uo Þ ð7Þ
which significantly differs from the equation (2), since
the differential operator D is now nonlinear and
involves the products of derivatives over space vari-
ables. On the basis of stress-based equilibrium equa-
tion, constitutive equation (1) and nonlinear
geometrical strain-displacement relationships (7), we
obtain displacement-based equilibrium equations
describing large deformations specified for the case of
initial prestress. Further, by performing a standard pro-
cedure involving derivation of the weak form of the
governing equations and Galerkin method, we obtain
FEM equation describing large deformations of pre-
stressed body, which takes the form
ðKNL þ Kp Þq þ R0 ¼ P ð8Þ
where
. KNL is the ‘‘geometrically nonlinear’’ global stiffness
matrix corresponding to the current configuration,
ðeÞ
composed of elements’ stiffness matrices KNL defined
as
Z
ðeÞ
KNL ¼ BT D B dV ð9Þ
performed over actual (deformed) volume of the finite
element
. Kp is the global stress stiffness matrix composed of
elementary stress stiffness matrices KpðeÞ defined as
Z
KpðeÞ ¼ BT p B dV ð10Þ
V
where p is the tensor of the current Cauchy stresses and
the integration is performed over the actual volume of
the finite element.
4 Journal of Composite Materials 0(0)
Considering exclusively the problem of prestressing
we assume external force P equal zero and we obtain a
nonlinear equation
ðKNL þ Kp Þq ¼ R0 ð11Þ
which can be solved in order to obtain displacement
vector q that describes the deformed equilibrium con-
figuration of the prestressed structure. Let us note that
matrix KNL reflects large deformation of the prestressed
structures, while matrix Kp describes so-called stress-
stiffening effect.
It should be also pointed out that the form of the
applied equilibrium equation has strong implications
for the solution of the natural value problem describing
free vibrations of the structure. Since in eigenvalue
problem the force terms are not considered, there is
no difference between prestressed and non-prestressed
structure in the linear model of prestress described by
equation (3). Therefore, the only way of revealing the
influence of the prestress on free vibrations of the struc-
ture is to use the nonlinear model of prestressing based
on equation (11). Consequently, only the nonlinear for-
mulation will be used in the following derivations.
In the case of dynamic problem, the finite element
equation of motion can be written as
 
M€qðtÞ þ C_qðtÞ þ KNL þ Kp qðtÞ þ R0 ðtÞ ¼ PðtÞ ð12Þ
where
. M is the global mass matrix composed of elementary
mass matrices M ðeÞ defined as
Z follows: length L ¼ 0.2 [m], height h ¼ 0.00131 [m],
ðeÞ
M ¼ NT  N dV ð13Þ
V composed of the resin of mechanical properties: r ¼
where  is material density and N is the shape functions
matrix,
. c is global damping matrix,
. KNL þ Kp are defined in the same way as in equation
(11).
Suppressing the term C_qðtÞ in the equation (13) and
assuming that there are no external forces acting on the
system, we obtain homogenous equation describing free
vibrations of the structure
 
M€qðtÞ þ KNL þ Kp qðtÞ ¼ 0 ð14Þ
Assuming that free vibration of the structure are
harmonic and searching the solution of the equation
(14) in the form
qðtÞ ¼ ~
q sinð!t þ ’Þ ð15Þ
where ~q is the vector of vibration amplitudes, we
obtain a system of linear homogeneous algebraic
equations
 
KNL þ Kp  !2 M ~q ¼ 0 ð16Þ
Equation (16) has non-zero solutions when
 
det KNL þ Kp  !2 M ¼ 0 ð17Þ
After expanding the determinant (17), we obtain a
polynomial of degree n in respect of !2 , where ! are
natural frequencies of the structure. The corresponding
eigenvectors indicate mode shapes of the prestressed
structure.
Since the components of the stiffness matrices KNL
and Kp depend on deformation of the structure and
state of stress resulting from prestressing, the modal
analysis of the prestressed structure always has to be
preceded by the nonlinear static analysis. The deform-
ation and stress tensors obtained by solving static equi-
librium equations are used to compute the final form of
the stiffness matrix used in modal analysis.
Numerical evaluation of prestress effect
Numerical model details
The model, considered in the numerical tests, was a
unidirectionally reinforced five-layer composite beam.
The geometrical dimensions of the structure were as
width w ¼ 0.01 [m]. Each layer of the composite was
1200 [kg/m3], E ¼ 3.5 [GPa],  ¼ 0.35 and reinforcing
fibres of the mechanical properties: r ¼ 2600 [kg/m3],
E ¼ 60 [GPa],  ¼ 0.22. However, the volume ratio of
the fibre was modified in subsequent analyses between
20% and 90%. In each case, the homogenized ortho-
tropic material properties were calculated by using the
rule of mixtures.26
The finite element model was composed of 3D solid
elements of hexagonal shape and quadratic geometric
order. The computations were conducted with the use
of two commercial FEM codes: ABAQUS and
ANSYS. In ABAQUS, the 20-node quadratic brick
elements with reduced integration (C3D20R) were
used. In ANSYS, eight-node structural solid elements
(SOLID185) were applied. In each case, the finite elem-
ent analysis always consisted of two separate steps:
. The first step was static prestressing. At this step the
structure was simply supported and its lower layer
was subjected to prestressing force of various mag-
nitudes. Prestressing was applied by introducing
Orlowska et al.
(a)
(b)
Figure 1. Boundary conditions for step 1 (a) and step 2 of the analysis (b), scheme of the layers numbering (c).
initial stress to prestressed layer. The aim of this step
was to calculate the response of the structure to pre-
stressing force and to determine stress stiffness
matrix for further computations.
. The second step was modal analysis. At this step the
beam boundary conditions were removed and the
structure was fixed at one end acting as a cantilever.
The aim of this step was to find natural frequencies
that correspond to bending modes of the cantilever
and to identify their change caused by applying pre-
stressing force.
The implementation of the above procedure for con-
ducting modal analysis of prestressed structures sub-
stantially differs in commercially available FEM
software. In particular, the main difference between
solvers ANSYS Mechanical and ABAQUS Standard
lies in the method of generating the stress stiffness
matrix Kp used for the calculation of the modal fre-
quencies (see equation 17). In ANSYS Mechanical the
stress stiffness matrix can be constructed by using the
results from the preceding geometrically linear analysis
or large-deflection analysis,27 while in ABAQUS
Standard the stress stiffness matrix can be built exclu-
sively by using the results from the preceding geomet-
rically nonlinear analysis.28
In conducted numerical studies the natural frequen-
cies of prestressed structures and corresponding fre-
quency shifts between standard and prestressed
structures were obtained by both solvers and both
methods of generating stress stiffness matrices.
However, good agreement with the experimental
measurements was achieved only when large displace-
ments analysis was used as a first step of the modal
procedure. The frequency shifts obtained by using pre-
liminary geometrically linear analysis were considerably
deviating from above results and unrealistic in compari-
son to experimental measurements.
This clearly indicates that in case of composites with
predefined stress state generated by initial prestressing
of chosen layer during manufacturing process, the first
step of the modal procedure cannot be approximated
5
(c)
by geometrically linear analysis. Even if deformation
shape obtained by solving linear equilibrium equations
related to initial configuration and deformation shape
obtained by solving nonlinear equilibrium equations
related to actual configuration are practically identical,
the stress stiffness matrices corresponding to both
above cases are substantially different. This is due to
the fact that stress stiffness matrix is highly affected by
structure deformation and it is obtained by integration
of the stress tensor over element volume, which strongly
depends on actual structure geometry.
Schemes of the boundary conditions applied in the
two steps of the analysis are presented in Figure 1.
Numerical results obtained from above modal analysis
with the use of both FEM solvers were very similar and
the discrepancies between them were insignificant.
Numerical test results
Static analysis conducted with the use of the developed
numerical model allowed to determine maximal deflec-
tion in terms of fibre volume fraction and applied pre-
stressing force (Figure 2). In the case of high fibre
volume fraction, deflection obtained from both linear
and nonlinear model increased proportionally in rela-
tion to the applied prestressing force. This indicates
that for high volume fraction, the linear model provides
a good estimation of structure deformation. In con-
trast, in the case of low fibre volume fraction, the dis-
crepancy between linear and nonlinear model is
significant. Deflection obtained from the linear model
turned out to be overestimated which indicates consid-
erable increase of structure stiffness caused by structure
deformation.
Moreover, the numerical model allows to analyze
the change of longitudinal strains and stresses for
various volume fractions of the fibres in the compos-
ite (Figure 3). It can be observed that applied pres-
tress, which is a combination of compression and
bending, causes that the shortening of the lower
layer is significantly larger than the elongation of
the upper one.
6 Journal of Composite Materials 0(0)

0,025
20%

maximum deflection [m]

0,02
30%
0,015
40%
50%
0,045 60%
70%
80%
90%
0,005

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
prestressing force [N]
Figure 2. Deflection of the beam due to prestressing force for different fibre volume fractions (results of linear analysis are marked
by dashed lines, while results of nonlinear analysis are marked by solid lines).

(a) 10-3 (b) 10-3

1.5
1.2 20%
data1
30%
data2
40%
distance [m]
distance [m]

1 data3
1 50%
data4
0.8 90%, linear
data1 60%
data5
20%,
data2 linear 70%
data6
0.6 20%,
data3 nonlin. 80%
data7
0.5 90%
data8
0.4
0.2
0 0
-6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 -6 -4 -2 0 2
7 -3
stress [MPa] 10 strain 10

Figure 3. Stress (a) and strain (b) distribution in the middle cross section of the beam, computed for prestressing force 260 N.

Moreover, it can be observed that there is an inverse In the following step, modal analysis was used to
nonlinear dependence between the absolute values of investigate the change in natural frequencies and
the longitudinal strains and the fibre volume fraction modal shapes of the prestressed composite. In all
of the composite. The distribution of stresses is typical cases, the applied stress stiffness matrix was associated
for the combination of compression and bending with with the deformed shape of the structure. The attention
clearly visible shift into the tension for the lower, ini- was focused on modes related to bending deformation.
tially prestressed layer. Let us note that the values of The initial modal shapes of the prestressed composite
stresses are independent on the fibre volume fraction, beam appear to be qualitatively similar to the bending
since in each case the ratios of stiffness of the subse- modes of the standard non-prestressed beam. They are,
quent layers remain unaltered. In contrast, deform- however, imposed on deformed configuration of the
ations increase with the decrease of fibre volume beam (Figure 4).
fraction (Figure 3(b)), which influences the natural fre- The comparison of frequencies of three bending
quencies of the prestressed structure. modes of the composite beams with various fibre
Orlowska et al.
Figure 4. Mode shapes for the three initial bending frequencies of the non-prestressed (a) and prestressed samples (b).
volume fractions are presented in Figure 5. The fre-
quency of non-prestressed straight beam is depicted in
a solid line, while the frequencies of prestressed beams
are depicted in dashed lines. It was observed that the
applied prestressing force causes increase of the fre-
quency of the first bending mode. For the prestress of
520 N and the smallest considered fibre volume fraction
of 20%, the increase of frequency exceeds 7%. Let us
note that the increase of frequency is nonlinear in terms
of prestressing force. Moreover, the effect gradually
decreases along with the increase of fibre volume frac-
tion and it almost totally vanishes, when the fibre
volume fraction is large. In the latter case, the beam
is very stiff and deformation caused by prestress is
much smaller. This effect is presented in Figure 5(d),
showing the comparison of percentage frequency
change and beam deflection to beam length ratio for
prestressing force of 520 N.
The effect of prestress is inverse for the second and
third bending modes. In these cases, the applied pre-
stressing force causes a decrease of the natural fre-
quency of the modes. The effect of prestress is the
largest for the second mode. In the case of prestressing
force of 520 N and the fibre volume fraction of 20%,
the decrease of frequency exceeds 23%. Similarly, as in
previous cases, the effect of prestress is nonlinear in
terms of prestressing force and decreases with the
increase of fibre volume fraction.
The global effect of frequency change can be divided
into effect caused by the change of structure geometry
and the effect caused by generated stress (the so called
‘‘stress-stiffening’’ effect). Figure 6 presents the influ-
ence of geometry change on the frequencies of the
three initial bending modes. Let us note that the modi-
fication of structure geometry, considered separately
7
from stress generation, causes substantial decrease of
all natural frequencies. The effect of stress generation
is always reverse and increases all frequencies of vibra-
tions. The final effect of prestress is a combination of
both above described effects and depends on their mag-
nitudes. In particular, for the first vibration mode, the
effect of stress generation is larger than the effect of
geometry change, and vibration frequency increases.
In contrast, for the second and third vibration modes,
the effect of stress generation is smaller than the effect
of vibration change and the vibration frequency
decreases. In all cases, both effects have to be taken
into account in order to evaluate the global effect of
structure prestressing.
The final topic investigated was the change in nat-
ural frequencies caused by prestressing of the various
layers of the composite (according to layers number-
ing scheme presented in Figure 1(c)). The numerical
simulation showed that the largest change of the fre-
quency can be observed when prestress is applied to
the outer layer. It exceeds 8% for the fibre volume
fraction of 20%, decreases to 2% for the fibre
volume fraction of 50% and drops below 1% for
the fibre volume fraction of 90% (Figure 7). When
prestressing is applied to the layer located closer to
the middle surface of the composite, the relative
change of the frequency of each mode decreases. In
the case of axial prestressing – force applied to the
third layer – structure deformation as well as relative
changes in frequency are very small. In the case of
fibre volume fraction of 20%, it is the largest but
does not exceed 0.4%. The conducted analysis clearly
shows that the effect of change in specimen shape
resulting from prestress has the largest influence on
modal characteristics of the composite.
8 Journal of Composite Materials 0(0)

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Figure 5. Prestress influence on the natural frequency values: first mode (a), second mode (b), third mode (c), percentage frequency
change due to deflection to beam length ratio for prestressing force 520 N (d).

. composite type B – composed of five layers of bidir-

Experimental evaluation of prestress
effect
Samples preparation
Several experimental tests were performed in order to
assess the influence of prestress on the natural frequen-
cies of the composite beam elements. Three types of
composites, varying in terms of layer number, fibres
volume fraction and prestress level, were tested:
. composite type A – composed of one layer of bidir-
ectional glass fabric with basis weight 163 g/m2,
three layers of bidirectional glass fabric of basis
weight 280 g/m2 and epoxy resin ARALDITE
LY3505 with hardener XB 3403,
ectional E-glass fabric of basis weight 163 g/m2 and
epoxy resin ARALDITE LY3505 with hardener
XB 3403,
. composite type C – composed of five layers of bidir-
ectional E-glass fabric of basis weight 163 g/m2 and
epoxy resin ARALDITE LY3505 with hardener
XB 3403.
The specimens were manufactured using a dedicated
laboratory stand presented in Figure 8(a).
Methodology of preparation of the prestressed com-
posite with the use of such a stand was described by
Krishnamurthy.7 The main part of the stand was a
plane table, made of two blocks: one of them was
fixed to a base and the other one was movable.
Orlowska et al. 9

(a) 30 (b) 180

28 170

26 160

24 150
frequency [Hz]

frequency [Hz]
22 140

20 nonprestressed 130
nonprestressed
18 120

16
effect of geometry 110 effect of geometry
change change
14 100
total effect from total effect from
12 prestress 90 prestress
10 80
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100

fibre volume fraction [%] fibre volume fraction [%]

(c) 500

450
frequency [Hz]

400

350
nonprestressed

300 effect of
geometry change
250 total effect from
prestress
200
0 20 40 60 80 100

fibre volume fraction [%]

Figure 6. Separation of the effect of geometry change and the effect of stress stiffening for the first (a), second (b) and third modes
(c), computed for prestressing force 260 N.

A load screw was installed in the moving block in a way
that the screw end was blocked in the fixed part of the
stand and the movable part moved by the rotation of
the screw. Additionally, two guide bars were used for
the alignment of the moving and fixed blocks. The pre-
stressed woven fabric was mounted on the table by
means of clamps placed at the opposite ends of the
table. A load cell, allowing for a controlled introduc-
tion of tensile force and monitoring of the stress state of
the tensioned layer, was mounted on the fixed part of
the table and loaded by means of a screw. The force
acting on the sensor was a reaction force due to the
tensioning of the layer.
As shown in Figure 8, only the first layer was ten-
sioned by external force. The composite was cured in
room temperature by the use of negative pressure
during the first hour of processing. The prestressing
force was removed after 7 days. For each prestressed
plate the non-prestressed composite plate element was
produced simultaneously for the sake of comparison.
Both elements were made of the same components and
cured in identical conditions. After removing the pre-
stressing force, each plate was cut into beam samples
and tested with the experimental modal analysis pro-
cedure described in the next section.
Experimental set-up
In order to identify modal behaviour of the specimens,
several modal tests were performed. During each test,
the specimens were mounted on a modal shaker
ModalShop 2100E11 by means of an originally
10 Journal of Composite Materials 0(0)

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 7. Relative frequency change due to prestressing with 260 N applied to different layers of composite with fiber volume
fraction 20% (a), 50% (b) and 90% (c), computed for prestressing force 260 N.

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

E 280 g/m2 E 163 g/m2

E 280 g/m2 E 163 g/m2
E 163 g/m2
E 280 g/m2 E 163 g/m2
E 163 g/m2 E 163 g/m2

prestressed layer prestressed layer

Figure 8. Prestressing bed scheme (a) and experimental stand during samples preparation (b); general scheme of layer arrangement
for composite type A (c) and composite types B and C (d).

designed mounting clamp, which provided repetitive
test conditions. Each tested specimen was mounted in
the clamp and fixing bolts were screwed by the use of a
torque wrench with a moment of 7 Nm. Dynamic
responses of the specimens, for the applied excitation,
was measured with Polytec Scanning Vibrometer PSV-
400-3D (Figure 9), in a single measurement head con-
figuration (1D). The response was measured in the dir-
ection normal to surface of specimens and parallel to
the direction of vibrations generated by the shaker.
Vibrometer measurement points created a single line
on the top surface of the specimen. As a result, only
bending modes were observed. Additionally, an
acceleration sensor B&K 4507 B 004 was mounted on
the top of the clamp to measure the vibrations in
direction of excitation. A signal recorded by this
sensor was used as a reference in the analysis and cal-
culation of frequency response functions (FRFs). The
specimens were excited by means of a wide band
pseudorandom signal, generated by vibrometer internal
generator.
For the purpose of analysis, the velocity of vibra-
tions, measured with the PSV-400-3D, was converted
to the acceleration of vibration using Polytec’s internal
calculation algorithm. The Vibrometer software was
also used to obtain FRF H1 acceleration/acceleration
functions. The modal analysis was performed using
those FRFs in Bruel&Kjaer Reflex software.
To build stability diagrams, complex mode indicator
function (CMIF) was used as mode identification
Orlowska et al. 11

Figure 9. Experimental setup: scheme (a) and photograph (b).

Table 1. Results of experimental measurements – composites are placed in table according to the date of manufacturing.

Natural Natural
frequencies of frequencies of Relative
Composite Shape Thickness Mass non-prestressed prestressed Frequency
type deflection (m) Difference (%) Difference (%) csamples (Hz) samples (Hz) change (%)

A 0.006 8.5 0.2 13.1 14.1 7.1

84.7 90.6 7.0
234.7 254.4 8.4
B 0.016 4.4 3.5 14.7 14.9 1.36
91.2 89.1 –2.4
253.4 253.1 –0.1
C 0.012 –3.5 –0.12 17 17.3 1.8
107.5 101.5 –5.6
303.4 288.2 –5.0

function. The CMIF gave better identification of modal
frequencies, in the range of interest, than a simple sum of
FRFs. Modal parameters of tested structures (poles on
stability diagram) were determined using rational frac-
tion polynomial-Z curve-fitter. The applied modal ana-
lysis software regards this parameter estimation method
as a general-purpose frequency domain method.
This approach had been chosen because it provided
clear stability diagrams and was good for handling rela-
tively broad frequency bands. For the selected speci-
mens, the results obtained with the presented analysis
approach were compared with the results obtained with
the use of the PolyMAX algorithm, which is widely
known to the engineering community. For compared
cases, the differences of estimated modal frequencies
were negligible (in the worst case not more than
0.03%). The measurement procedure was repeated ten
times for each sample and for each measurement the
sample was removed and mounted again in mounting
clamp. The dispersion of identified frequencies did not
exceed 0.8%. Averaged values were regarded as final
results.
Results of experimental analysis
Table 1 presents the three initial bending frequencies
measured according to the experimental procedure for
prestressed and non-prestressed specimens (fp and fn,
12
Table 2. FEM-based prediction of natural frequencies corresponding to three initial bending modes for pre-
stressed and non-prestressed composite types A, B, C.
Composite Natural frequencies of
type non-prestressed sample (Hz)
A 13.28
83.16
232.8
B 14.45
90.55
253.51
C 17.15
107.41
300.67
respectively), as well as the relative differences between
those frequencies computed as
fp  fn
f ½% ¼  100% ð18Þ
fn
Due to the non-negligible diversity of thickness and
mass observed between prestressed and non-prestressed
samples for each kind of composite, the percentage dif-
ferences of mass and thickness were calculated as
cp  cn
d ½% ¼  100% ð19Þ
cn
where cn is appropriately the thickness and mass of
non-prestressed sample and cp is the thickness and
mass of prestressed sample. These differences are also
presented in Table 1.
In the case of composite type A, all bending frequen-
cies measured for the prestressed sample were higher
than frequencies measured for the non-prestressed
sample. This does not reflect the nature of the changes
that occurred in numerical simulations and are pre-
sented in previous sections. However, it is important
to note that these samples quite largely differed in
terms of thickness. As the thickness of prestressed
sample is much higher than the thickness of non-pre-
stressed sample, additional positive frequency shift
resulted directly from this fact.
The increase of fundamental frequency was observed
for the prestressed samples of composite types B and C.
In turn, the second and third bending frequency for
those composites decreased with prestress application.
Comparison of numerical model with experimental
results
In order to compare the numerical model and experimen-
tal results, detailed FEM models were built for each spe-
cimen. The original geometry of each sample as well as its
Journal of Composite Materials 0(0)
Natural frequencies of
Error (%) prestressed sample (Hz) Error (%)
1.14 14.78 2.54
–1.78 92.12 0.84
–0.77 258.55 0.81
–1.7 15.27 2.4
–0.77 91.14 2.3
0.03 261.5 3.3
1.06 16.99 –1.7
–0.05 102.97 1.5
–0.91 293.18 1.7
mass density and stiffness properties were used as input
data. In particular, the longitudinal Young’s modulus
was determined by measuring the central deflection of
the beam, according to EN: ISO 14125:1998/A1:2011.
The values of remaining modules were calculated by
using rule of mixtures.26 Since residual stress was not
measured in the course of the experimental studies (due
to the fact that epoxy resin characterized by a quite low
contraction was used as matrix material and the samples
were hardened in a low temperature), it was also omitted
in the numerical model.
The three initial bending natural frequencies com-
puted for each sample, investigated in the laboratory
tests described above, as well as the percentage differ-
ences between results of numerical computation and
laboratory measurements are presented in Table 2.
Although generally there is a quite high correlation
between numerical and experimental results, some
remarks have to be made:
. frequencies determined numerically are close to
those measured experimentally for specimen type
A; however, the results of experimental measure-
ments do not reflect the overall character of fre-
quency changes presented in section describing
numerical results,
. the lowest correspondence between experimental and
numerical results concerns specimen type B, which
was prestressed with the highest force level,
. the comparison done for specimen type C reveals a
good correspondence between experimental and
numerical results and character of frequency
change observed in the experiment reflects the over-
all character of frequency change presented in sec-
tion describing numerical results.
It should be also noticed that for specimen type C
relative frequency change measured for the first bend-
ing mode is comparable with the percentage differences
Orlowska et al.
between numerical results and laboratory measure-
ments (marked as error in Table 2), but for the
second and third mode frequencies, the shift is larger
than this discrepancy. It confirms that the results of
numerical modelling nearly resemble real dynamic
response of the prestressed structure.
The experimental study of the prestressing force
influence on the natural frequencies of the prestressed
composites is difficult and should be done carefully. For
small values of prestressing force, the frequency shift is
small and even small differences in geometry, mass and
stiffness between prestressed and non-prestressed
sample can lead to wrong conclusions. Such situation
was observed in experiments conducted for specimen
type A, where the effect of the frequency change, result-
ing from the increase in the thickness of prestressed
sample, was larger than the effect associated with pres-
tress itself.
On the other hand, when the applied prestress level is
high, rheological processes start quickly and frequencies
of prestressed samples are affected by additional changes
in the shape and stress field, caused by these processes.
This case applies to specimen type B prestressed with the
highest force level. As the measurements for these speci-
mens were carried out three months after their manufac-
turing, it was noted that shape deflection of the
prestressed sample increased about 12%. Such an
increase of deflection takes place when high stress
causes creep in amorphous epoxy resin.
Conclusions
The presented study shows that non-axial prestressing
of FRP composites can significantly affect their
dynamic behaviour, including natural frequencies and
modal shapes. In particular, the simulations conducted
by FEM had revealed the following important facts:
. for eccentrically prestressed composite beams, the
systematic increase of the first natural frequency
value and systematic decrease of the second and
the third natural frequencies in relation to prestress-
ing force has been observed,
. frequency shifts identified in numerical results for
eccentrically prestressed composite beams are
strongly affected by structure deformation which
affects material stiffness and stress stiffness matrices
of prestressed structure,
. when prestress is applied to the layer located on or
near the middle surface of the composite beam, it
produces much smaller deformation and frequency
shifts stay very small.
The results of experimental studies, carried out for
eccentrically prestressed composite beams, confirm the
13
nature of the frequency change revealed by the finite
element modelling, when very rigorous conditions
regarding mass, thickness and stiffness of the specimens
are imposed. In particular, it was observed that the first
natural frequency of the prestressed sample was higher,
while the second and the third natural frequencies were
lower than the corresponding frequencies of non-pre-
stressed beam. As frequency changes stay significant
for highly deformed structures, the experimental identi-
fication of the effect of prestress on the natural frequen-
cies of the composite beam is easier for high level of
prestressing force. On the other hand, for glass-epoxy
composite, the processes of relaxation and creep are
associated with high level of stress. They cause gradual
change in deflection of the sample as well as its stress
state. Therefore, an analysis of changes in natural fre-
quencies of samples, conducted after a long period since
the specimens’ preparation, requires including into pre-
sented numerical model the description of the rheo-
logical effects.
The shifts in the natural frequencies of prestressed
structures are caused by two counteracting effects:
stress-stiffening phenomenon caused by stationary pres-
tress field and prestress-induced change of structure
geometry. The magnitudes of both effects depend on
the value of applied prestressing force and the
number of the eigenmode under consideration. Both
effects are concurrent, occur mutually and cannot be
separated from each other. Consequently, they both
influence the sign and the value of the total frequency
shifts in prestressed structure.
It seems that in the case of discussed, eccentrically
prestressed cantilever beam, the stress stiffening tends
to increase the natural frequencies of the structure,
while creation of the unidirectionally curved shape
tends to decrease them. It is expected that in case of
the first eigenmode the stress-stiffening effect is stronger
than the geometry change effect and thus frequency of
the first mode increases along with applied prestressing
force. For the following natural modes, the stress-stif-
fening effect gradually decreases. Thus, the geometrical
effect is the dominating one and predetermines the sign
of the frequency shift. Consequently, the natural fre-
quencies of the second and third (and expectedly the
following) modes decrease along with applied prestress-
ing force.
Although the above hypothesis seems to be confirmed
by all conducted numerical and experimental analyses, it
still has to be proved theoretically by using strict math-
ematical models of the prestressed structures.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.
14
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial sup-
port for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article: The project was financed by the National Science
Centre in Poland allocated on the basis of decision number
DEC-2012/07/D/ST8/02661.
References
1. Graczykowski C, Orlowska A and Holnicki-Szulc J.
Prestressed composite structures – modeling, manufactur-
ing, design. Comp Struct 2016; 151: 172–182.
2. Hadi AS and Ashton JN. On the influence of pre-stress
on the mechanical properties of a unidirectional GRE
composite. Compos Struct 1998; 40: 305–311.
3. Motahhari S and Cameron J. Impact strength of fiber
pre-stressed composites. J Reinf Plast Compos 1998; 17:
123–130.
4. Motahhari S and Cameron J. Fibre prestressed compos-
ites: improvement of flexural properties through fibre
prestressing. J Reinf Plast Compos 1999; 18: 279–288.
5. Pang JWC and Fancey KS. The flexural stiffness charac-
teristics of viscoelastically prestressed polymeric matrix
composites. Compos A 2009; 40: 784–790.
6. Tuttle ME, Koehler RT and Keren D. Controlling ther-
mal stresses in composites by means of fiber prestress.
J Compos Mater 1996; 30: 486–502.
7. Krishnamurthy S. Prestressed advanced fibre reinforced
composites fabrication and mechanical performance. PhD
Thesis, Cranfield University, 2006.
8. Mostafa NH, Ismarrubie ZN, Sapuan SM, et al. Effect of
equi-biaxially fabric prestressing on the tensile perform-
ance of woven E-glass/polyester reinforced composites.
J Reinf Plast Compos 2016; 35: 14: 1093–1103.
9. Dvorak GJ, et al. The effect of fibre prestress on residual
stresses and the onset of damage in symmetric laminate
plates. Compos Sci Technol 2000; 60: 1129–1139.
10. Harris B. Fatigue and accumulation of damage in rein-
forced plastics. Composites 1977; 8: 214–220.
11. Motahhari S and Cameron J. Measurement of micro-resi-
dual stresses in fibre pre-stressed composites. J Reinf
Plast Compos 1997; 16: 1129–1137.
12. Mostafa NH, Ismarrubie ZN, Sapuan SM, et al. Fibre
prestressed polymer-matrix composites: a review.
J Compos Mater 2017; 51: 2017.
Journal of Composite Materials 0(0)
13. Dai K and Chen S. Vibration of spun-cast prestressed
concrete poles. In: Proceedings of IMAC XXV: A
Conference & Exposition on Structural Dynamics,
Orlando, Florida, USA, 2007.
14. Law S and Lu Z. Time domain responses of a prestressed
beam and prestress identification. J Sound Vibr 2005; 288:
1011–1025.
15. Raju K and Rao GV. Free vibration behavior of pre-
stressed beams. J Struct Eng 1986; 112: 433–437.
16. Hamed E and Frostig Y. Natural frequencies of bonded
and unbounded prestressed beams – prestress force
effects. J Sound Vibr 2006; 295: 28–39.
17. Kerr A. On the dynamic response of a prestressed beam.
J Sound Vibr 1976; 49: 569–573.
18. Hop T. The effect of degree of prestressing and age of
concrete beams on frequency and damping of their free
vibration. Mater Struct 1991; 24: 210–220.
19. Saiidi M, Douglas B and Feng S. Prestress force effect on
vibration frequency of concrete bridges. J Struct Eng
1994; 120: 2233–2241.
20. Zhang Y and Li R. Natural frequency of full prestressed
concrete beam. Transact Tianjin Univ 2007; 13: 354–359.
21. Noble D, Nogal M, O’Connor A, et al. The effect of
prestress force magnitude and eccentricity on the natural
bending frequencies of uncracked prestressed concrete
beams. J Sound Vibr 2016; 365: 22–44.
22. Clough RW and Penzien J. Dynamics of structures.
Berkeley: Computer & Structures Inc, 1995.
23. Chopra AK. Dynamics of structures. Theory and applica-
tions to earthquake engineering. Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2007.
24. Bathe KJ. Finite element procedures in engineering ana-
lysis. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1981.
25. Cook RD, Malkus DS and Plesha ME. Concepts and
applications of finite element analysis. New York: John
Wiley & Sons, 1989.
26. Berthelot J-M. Composite materials. Mechanical behavior
and structural analysis. Berlin: Heidelberg: Springer-
Verlag, 1999.
27. ANSYS Mechanical APDL Theory Reference Release
17, ANSYS, Inc., Chapter 3.6 Applying Prestress
Effects in a Modal Analysis.
28. ABAQUS Analysis User’s Guide, Chapter 6.3.5, Natural
frequency extraction.