18.IJSSD 2012 Delaminated

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.
net/publication/263874373
Numerical and experimental study on free vibration of delaminated woven

ﬁber glass/epoxy composite plates
Article in International Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics · April 2012

DOI: 10.1142/S0219455412500083
CITATIONS READS
45 530
3 authors, including:
Shishir Kumar Sahu Pravat Parhi

National Institute of Technology Rourkela CET Bhubaneswar
84 PUBLICATIONS 1,312 CITATIONS 24 PUBLICATIONS 465 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE
Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:
stochastic dynamics of composite curved panels View project
All content following this page was uploaded by Shishir Kumar Sahu on 09 December 2015.
The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

International Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics
Vol. 12, No. 2 (2012) 377394
#.c World Scienti¯c Publishing Company
DOI: 10.1142/S0219455412500083
NUMERICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

ON FREE VIBRATION OF DELAMINATED WOVEN
FIBER GLASS/EPOXY COMPOSITE PLATES
J. MOHANTY*, S. K. SAHU*,‡ and P. K. PARHI†

Int. J. Str. Stab. Dyn. 2012.12:377-394. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com
*Department of Civil Engineering

National Institute of Technology
by Dr. Shishir Kumar Sahu on 09/03/12. For personal use only.
Rourkela, Orissa 769008, India

†
Department of Civil Engineering
CET, Bhubaneswar, India
‡
sksahu.nitrkl@gmail.com
Received 18 August 2010

Accepted 13 December 2010
This paper presents a combined experimental and numerical study of free vibration of industry-
driven woven ¯ber glass/epoxy (G/E) composite plates with delamination. Using the ¯rst-order
shear deformation theory, an eight-noded two-dimensional quadratic isoparametric element was
developed, which has ¯ve degrees of freedom per node. In the experimental study, the in°uence
of various parameters such as the delamination size, boundary conditions, ¯ber orientations,
number of layers, and aspect ratio on the natural frequencies of delaminated composite plates
are investigated. Comparison of the numerical results with experimental ones shows good
agreement. Fundamental natural frequencies are found to decrease with the increase in the
delamination size and ¯ber orientation and increases with the increase in the number of layers
and aspect ratio of delaminated composite plates. The natural frequency of the delaminated
composite plate varies signi¯cantly for di®erent boundary conditions.
Keywords: Delamination; composite plate; fundamental frequency; woven roving glassepoxy;

¯nite element.
1. Introduction
Composite structures have been widely used in a multitude of thin-walled light-
weight load-bearing structural parts for various purposes, including the aerospace,
marine, automotive, and civil engineering structures. The usage of woven composites
is increased in recent years due to their lower production cost, light weight, higher
fracture toughness and better control over the thermomechanical properties. Lami-
nated composites are often subjected to damages during their service life.
‡
Corresponding author.
377
378 J. Mohanty, S. K. Sahu & P. K. Parhi
Delamination, i.e., the separation between the individual plies of the laminate, fre-
quently occurs in engineering practice.
The presence of delamination signi¯cantly a®ects some design parameters such as
the vibration characteristics and buckling strength of a structure. As per Adam
et al.1 in many situations, vibration testing is recognized as an e®ective and fast
method of health monitoring for detecting various damages in structural elements.
So, the detection of delamination and the study of the vibration behavior of dela-
minated composite structures are very important for the e®ective use of composites
and their stability.
A considerable amount of studies are available on the vibration of laminated
composite beams, plates, and shells. However, studies addressing delamination in
composite laminates are quite limited. Delamination is generally a more complex

problem involving geometrical and material discontinuities. Recently, Della and
Shu2 reviewed the available mathematical models for the vibration of delaminated
composite laminates. As per their study, the earliest model reported for the
vibration analysis of composite beams was given by Ramkumar et al.3 Ostacho-
wicz and Krawczuk4 analyzed the natural frequency of composite beams with
delamination using the ¯nite element method (FEM). Lee et al.5 derived an
analytical solution for multiple delaminated beams. Brandinelli and Massabo6
developed an analytical model to investigate the e®ect of bridging mechanisms
between the delaminated interfaces on the vibration of a delaminated composite
beam. Park et al.7 gave a recurrent single-delaminated beam model for the
vibration analysis of multi-delaminated beams. Kim and Hwang8 presented an
analytical solution based on the \constrained mode" assumption for delaminated
honeycomb sandwich beams. Shu and Della 9 presented an analytical solution for
the vibration of sandwich beams with two delaminations at identical span wise
locations. Othman and Barton10 studied the failure initiation and propagation
characteristics of honeycomb sandwich composites. Zhu et al.11 formulated the
reference surface element and applied it to the dynamic analysis of delaminated
composite beams. Yuan et al.12 calculated the re°ection and transmission coe±-
cients for time harmonic °exural waves in a semi-in¯nite delaminated beam using
an analytical approach.
All the aforementioned works were based on one-dimensional (1D) models. 2D
models were also developed to predict the behavior of delaminated composites in a
more realistic way. Ju et al.13 presented a ¯nite element formulation for the
analysis of free vibration of composite plates with multiple delaminations. Parhi
et al.14 investigated the dynamic behavior in the presence of single and multiple
delaminations of laminated composite plates. Zak et al.15 studied the in°uence of
the delamination length and position on natural frequencies and modes of
vibration of the unidirectional composite plates by using the FEM. Yam et al.16
proposed a ¯nite element model for predicting the dynamic behavior of multi-layer
composite plates with internal delamination at arbitrary locations. Oh et al.17
Numerical and Experimental Study on Free Vibration 379
presented a four-noded ¯nite element formulation based on the e±cient high-order

zigzag plate theory of laminated composite plates with multiple delaminations to
predict the natural frequencies, mode shape and time response. Olsson et al.18
developed a model to predict the delamination threshold loads for plates under
dynamic impacts.
However, a few studies involving experimental investigations on the vibration of
delaminated composite plates are available in literature. Campanelli and Engblom19
presented limited vibration data of three sets of delaminated graphite/PEEK com-
posite plates with delamination located at the mid edge and corner of the plate and
compared their results with the modeling ones. Luo and Hangud20 conducted modal
analysis experiments on glass ¯ber/epoxy cantilever composite plates with ¯xed size
of strip delamination. Kessler et al.21 carried out a damage detection for composite
panels using the frequency response method. Azouaoui et al.22 made an experimental
investigation to the delamination behavior of glass/polyester composite plates sub-

jected to low-energy impact fatigues.
Krawczuk et al.23 developed a ¯nite element model to study the dynamics of
cracked composite material structures. Chang et al.24 studied the vibration of
delaminated composite plates under axial loads. Hou and Jeronimidis25 made an
experimental investigation on circular composite plates with an impact induced
delamination. Chattopadhyay et al.26 formulated a high-order theory for dynamic
stability analysis of delaminated composite plates. Thornburgh and Chatto-
padhyay27 used the FEM to study the vibration of composite laminates with
delamination and transverse matrix cracks. Sancho and Miravete28 developed a
design method for delaminated composite structures considering the 3D stress
¯eld in the vicinity of free edges, holes, and changes in the number of layers.
Karmkar et al.29 investigated the e®ect of delamination on the free vibration
characteristics of graphiteepoxy composite pretwisted cylindrical shallow shells
of various stacking sequences considering the length of delamination as a par-
ameter. Acharya et al.30 studied the free vibration of delaminated composite
cylindrical shell roofs. Roy and Chakraborty31 proposed a 3D ¯nite element
analysis (FEA) to evaluate the response of graphite/epoxy laminates subjected to
impact loadings.
The review of the previous works as cited above indicated that a considerable
amount of analytical models and numerical analysis have been reported for the
vibration analysis of unidirectional composite laminates with delaminations. How-
ever, experimental investigations on modal analysis of delaminated industry-driven
woven roving ¯ber composite plates are scarce in the literature. Therefore, in the
present study, the free vibration of woven roving glassepoxy delaminated compo-
site plates is investigated both numerically and experimentally. The in°uence of
various parameters such as the e®ects of delamination area, boundary conditions,
number of layers, ply orientation, and aspect ratio on the natural frequency of woven
roving delaminated plates is studied extensively.
Y, v0 Square size
delamination
h
Z, w0 b
θ
a
X, u0
Fig. 1. Rectangular laminated composite plate with mid-plane delamination.
2. Finite Element Formulation

Figure 1 shows a delaminated composite plate where the delaminations are pre-
sumed to be parallel to the mid-plane of the plate. The global coordinate system is
considered with respect to the mid-plane of the plate with the Z-axis perpendicular
to the XY plane and denoting the angle of ¯ber orientation, measured antic-
lockwise with respect to the X-axis.
To analyze the dynamic behavior of delaminated composite plate, an eight-
noded 2D quadratic isoparametric element is used, which has ¯ve degrees of
freedom (u, v, w, x , y ) per node, where u, v, and w are the translational dis-
placements along the X, Y , and Z axes, respectively, and x and y are the
rotations about the X and Y axes, respectively. For analysis of free vibration of
delaminated composite plates, a ¯nite element model is developed using ¯rst-order
shear deformation theory.
2.1. Delamination modeling

A simple 2D single delamination model proposed by Gim32 is extended in the
present paper for multiple delamination modeling. It can be applied to any gen-
eral case of a laminated composite plate having multiple delaminations at any
arbitrary location. Here, the delaminated area is assumed as the interface of two
separate sub laminates bonded together along the delamination surface. A typical
composite plate of uniform thickness h with n layers of laminates and p arbitrarily
located delaminations is considered for the analysis as shown in Fig. 2. The
principal material axes of each layer are arbitrarily oriented with respect to the
Fig. 2. Laminate geometry with multiple delaminations.
hs/2 h/2 C
s
hs/2
hs z r0
Z z s0
z 0t
t
h/2
z u0
u
Fig. 3. Three arbitrary delaminations leading to four sub-laminates r, s, t, and u.
mid-plane of the plate. Let Z s0 be the distance between the mid-plane of the
original laminate and the mid-plane of the arbitrary s th sub-laminate as shown
in Fig. 3.
Considering the sub-laminate s as a separate plate, we can express its displace-
ment ¯eld as:
us ¼ u 0s þ ðz z 0s Þx ; vs ¼ v 0s þ ðz z 0s Þy ; ð1Þ
where u 0s and v 0s are the mid-plane displacements of the sth sub-laminate. The mid-
plane strains of the sub-laminate are:
8 9
> @u 0s >
>
> >
>
8 0 9 >
> @x >
>
> 2 > >
> >
>
< xx = < =
@v 0
2 yy
0
¼ s
: ð2Þ
: 0 >
> ; >
> @y >
>
xy s > > >
>
>
> 0>
>
: @u s þ @v s >
0
> ;
@y @x s
From Eq. (1), the strain components within the sub-laminate s can be expressed as:
8 9 8 9 8 9
> @u > >

> @u 0s >
> > @x >
>
>
s >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> @x >
> > @x >
> >
> @x >
>
8 9 >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> 2 > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
< = < = < = < =
xx
@vs @v s
0 @y
2yy ¼ ¼ þ ðz z s Þ
0
>
: >
; >
> @y >
> >
> @y >
> >
> @y >
>
xy s > >
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > >
> > 0 >
> >
> >
>
>
> @u @v >
s> >
> @u @v 0>
> >
> @ @ y>
>
: s
þ ; > :
s
þ s >
; : x
þ ;
@y @x @y @x @y @x
8 0 9 8 9
>
> 2 xx >
> > kxx >
< = < =
¼ 2 0yy þ z z 0s kyy : ð3Þ
>
> > > >
: 0 > ; : ;
xy s kxy
In order to satisfy the compatibility and equilibrium requirements at the common

delamination boundary, it is assumed that the in-plane displacements, transverse
displacement, and rotations at a common node for all the three sub-laminates
including the original one are identical. Applying this multi-point constraint
condition, the in-plane displacements at an arbitrary point c of the delamination
boundary (Fig. 3) at a distance z from the mid-plane of the laminate can be
written as:
uc ¼ u 0 þ zx ; vc ¼ v 0 þ zy :
From Eq. (1) the translational displacements at point c (usc , vsc Þ are given by:
usc ¼ u 0s þ ðz z 0s Þx ; vsc ¼ v 0s þ ðz z 0s Þy ; ð4Þ
where
u 0s , v 0s ¼ mid-plane displacement of the sth sub-laminate along the x and y direction

z 0s ¼ distance between the mid-plane of sth sub-laminate and the mid-plane of the
laminate in the z direction.
Equating uc with usc and vc with vsc , the mid-plane displacements of the sub-
laminate can be expressed in the form of the mid-plane displacements (u 0 , v 0 ) of the
original laminate without delamination as:

u 0s ¼ u 0 þ z 0s x ; v 0s ¼ v 0 þ z 0s y : ð5Þ
From Eq. (5), the mid-plane strains of the sub-laminate can be generalized as a
function of the mid-plane displacements of the un-delaminated plate as:
8 0 9 8 0 9 8 9
< 2 xx >
> = < 2 xx >
> = < kxx =
2 0yy ¼ 2 0yy þ z 0s kyy ; ð6Þ
: 0 >
> ; >
: >
; : ;
xy s 0xy kxy
where kxx , kyy , and kxy are the plate curvatures.

Substituting Eq. (6) into Eq. (3), the strain components within the sub-laminate
can be rewritten as:
8 0 9
8 9 8 9
> 2 >
< 2xx = < xx >
> = < kxx >
> =
2yy ¼ 2 0yy þ ðz z 0s Þ kyy
: ; > > > >
xy s > : 0 > ;
xy s
:
kxy
;
8 0 9 8 9 8 9
>
> 2 >
< xx > = < kxx >
> = < kxx >
> =
¼ 2 0yy þ z 0s kyy þ ðz z 0s Þ kyy : ð7Þ
>
> > > > > >
: 0 > ; : ; : ;
xy kxy kxy
For any lamina of the sth sub-laminate, the in-plane and shear stresses are found
from the relation:
2 3
8 9 Q Q Q 8 9

< xx = 6 2
7< xx =
11 12 16
¼ 6Q Q 22 Q 26 75: 2yy ; ; ð8Þ

: yy ; 4 12
xy xy s
Q 16 Q 26 Q 66
" #
xz Q 44 Q 45 xz
¼ ; ð9Þ
yz Q Q yz s
45 55
where Qij (i; j ¼ 1, 2, 4, 5, 6) are the transformed reduced sti®ness coe±cients in line
with Tsai and Hahn,33 and f xz yz g TS are assumed to be the same as f xz yz g T of
the undelaminated plate.
By multiplying the respective rows in Eqs. (8) and (9) with sub-laminate
strain terms f2xx 2yy 2xy g TS and f yz xz g TS , one can get the corresponding
stresses. For example,
8 9
< 2xx =
xx ¼ ½ Q 12
11 Q 16 2yy :
Q ð10Þ
: ;
xy s
T
Substituting the expressions of 2xx 2yy xy s from Eq. (7) into Eq. (10), xx can
be rewritten as:
28 0 9 8 9 8 93
> 2 xx > < kxx = < kxx =
6< 0 =
xx ¼ Q 11 Q 12 Q 16 :4 2 yy þ z 0s kyy þ ðz z 0s Þ kyy 7 5: ð11Þ
: 0 >
> ; : ; : ;
xy kxy kxy
Integrating xx as given in Eq. (11) over the sub-laminae thickness, hs, one can
express the stress resultant, Nxxs for the sth sub-laminate as:
Z hs þ z 0s
2
Nxxs ¼ xx dz
hs
2 þzs
0
8 0 9
Z >
> 2 xx >>
hs
2 þ z 0s < =
¼ ½ Q 11 Q 12 Q 16 2 yy dz
0
>
> >
hs
2 þzs : 0 >
0
;
xy
8 9
> k
Z hs þ z 0s
2
< xx > =
þ z 0s ½Q 11 Q 12 Q 16 kyy dz
hs >
: >
;
2 þzs
0
kxy
8 9
Z hs þ z 0s > kxx >
2
< =
þ ½Q 11 Q 12 Q 16 ðz z 0s Þ kyy dz
hs >
: >
;
2 þzs
0
kxy
8 0 9 8 9
>
> 2 xx >
> > k
< = < xx >=
¼ ½ a11 a12 a16 s 2 0yy þ z 0s ½ a11 a12 a16 s kyy
>
> > > >
: 0 > ; : ;
xy kxy
8 9
> k
< xx > =
þ ½ b11 b12 b16 s kyy : ð12Þ
>
: >
;
kxy
Similarly, one can write Mxxs for the sth sub-laminate as:
Z hs þ z 0s
2
Mxxs ¼ xx ðz z 0s Þdz
hs
2 þzs
0
8 0 9 8 9
>
> 2 xx >> > k
< = < xx >=
¼ ½ b11 b12 b16 s 2 0yy þ z 0s ½ b11 b12 b16 s kyy
>
> > > >
: 0 > ; : ;
xy kxy
8 9
> k
< xx > =
þ ½ d11 d12 d16 s kyy ; ð13Þ
>
: >
;
kxy
where
Z hs
2 þ z 0s Z hs
2 þ z 0s
½aij s ½Qij s dz; ½bij s ¼ ½Qij s ðz z 0s Þdz
hs
2 þ z 0s hs
2 þ z 0s
Z hs
2 þ z 0s
¼ ½Qij s zdz z 0s ½aij s ;
hs
2 þzs
0
and
Z hs
2 þ z 0s Z hs
2 þ z 0s
½dij s ½Qij s ðz z 0s Þ 2 dz ¼ ½Qij s z 2 dz
hs
2 þzs
0
hs
2 þzs
0
Z hs
2 þ z 0s
2z 0s ½Qij s zdz þ ðz 0s Þ 2 ½aij s ; i; j ¼ 1; 2; 6:
hs
2 þzs
0
Similarly, the terms Nyys , Nxys , Myys , and Mxys can be calculated.
The above in-plane stress and moment resultants for the sth sub-laminate can be
expressed in a generalized manner as:
2 38 9
8 9 a11 a12 a16 z 0s a11 þ b11 z 0s a12 þ b12 z 0s a16 þ b16 > 2 0xx >
> Nxx >
>
> > 6 7> 0 >
> >
> Nyy >
> >
> > 2 yy >
6 a12 a22 a26 z 0s a12 þ b12 z 0s a22 þ b22 z 0s a26 þ b26 7 >
> >
>
>
> > 6 7 > >
<N > = 6a 0
þ 0
þ 0
þ 7>< 0 > =
xy 6 16 26 66
a a z a
s 16 b16 z a
s 26 b26 z a
s 66 b66 7 xy
¼6 7 :
>
> Mxx >> 6 b11 b12 b16 z 0s b11 þ d11 z 0s b12 þ d12 z 0s b16 þ d16 7 >
> kxx >>
>
> >
> 6 7 > >
>
> M > > 6 7>>k > >
: yy >
> ; 4 b12 b22 b26 z 0s b12 þ d12 z 0s b22 þ d22 z 0s b26 þ d26 5 >
>
>
>
yy >
>
Mxy s : ;
b16 b26 b66 z s b16 þ d16 z s b26 þ d26 z s b66 þ d66 s
0 0 0 k xy
ð14Þ
Similarly, the transverse shear resultants for the sth sub-laminate can be
expressed as:

Qxz S44 S45 xz
¼ ; ð15Þ
Qyz s S45 S55 s yz
where
Z " #
hs
2 þ Z s0 44 Q
Q 45
½Sij s ¼ dz; ij ¼ 4; 5: ð16Þ
hs
45 Q
Q 55
2 þZs
0
s
After ¯nding the elastic sti®ness matrices separately for di®erent sub-laminates along
the thickness, the sum of all the sub-laminate sti®nesses represents the resultant
sti®ness matrix.
3. Experimental Programme
The composite plate specimens used in the present study are made of woven glass
¯bers (fabric made by interweaving direct rovings at 0 and 90 ) with epoxy matrix.
The percentage of ¯ber and matrix is 50:50 in weight. The constituent materials used
for fabricating the plate are E-glass woven roving as reinforcement, epoxy as resin,
hardener (catalyst), and polyvinyl alcohol as a releasing agent. Specimens are fab-
ricated by the hand layup technique and cured under room temperature. The arti-
¯cial delaminations have been introduced in 6.25%, 25%, and 56.25% area of the
composite plates by inserting Te°on ¯lm centrally at the mid-plane of the plate
during fabrication. All the specimens are tested for free vibration. The natural fre-
quencies of eight-layered woven ¯ber glass/epoxy (G/E) composite plates without
and with delaminations are determined experimentally using the B&K FFT analy-
zers (Model B&K 3560-C), B&K4507 transducers, and B&K 2302-5 modal hammer.
The PULSE Labshop software is used during the vibration measurement.
4. Results and Discussion

Numerical and experimental results are presented for free vibration of delaminated
composite plates and compared with previous investigations.
4.1. Comparison with previous study

Based on the above ¯nite element formulation and delamination modeling, programs
are developed for numerical computations. To validate the programs, the results
obtained for free vibration of an un-delaminated composite plate by the FEA are
compared with the results of Ju et al.13 As shown in Table 1, there is an excellent
agreement between the two results.
Similarly, the fundamental frequencies for a single-delaminated composite can-
tilever beam, based on the present delamination modeling, are compared with the
results of Shen and Grady,34 which has been used by many researchers to validate
Table 1. Comparison of fundamental natural frequency (Hz) for un-delaminated

graphite/epoxy composite plates with di®erent boundary conditions: (E11 ¼ 132 GPa,
E22 ¼ 5:35 GPa, G12 ¼ 2:79 GPa, 12 ¼ 13 ¼ 0:291, 23 ¼ 0:3, ¼ 1446:20 kg/m3,
a ¼ b ¼ 0:25 m, h ¼ 0:00212 m No. of layers ¼ 8, Lay up ¼ ð0=90=45=90Þ2 ).
Boundary condition Results of Ju et al.13 Present FEM result
Four sides simply supported 164.370 163.651

404.380 400.918
492.290 494.141
658.400 650.089
Four sides clamped 346.590 342.543
651.510 635.641
781.060 766.589
1000.200 963.542
Cantilever 41.350 41.162
60.660 60.520
221.52 220.461
258.72 257.709
Table 2. Comparison of fundamental frequency for cantilever composite beams

(127 12:7 1:016 mm3) with di®erent mid-plane delaminations (E11 ¼ 132 GPa,
E22 ¼ 10:3 GPa, G12 ¼ 5:0 GPa, 12 ¼ 0:33, ¼ 1480 kg/m3, ply orientation ¼ ðð0=90Þ2 Þs ).
Delamination length Analytical results Shen and Grady34 Present FEM results
Intact (mm) 82.042 82.13
25.4 80.133 81.97
50.8 75.285 78.41
76.2 66.936 64.55
their models. As observed in Table 2, excellent agreement exists between the present
results and those of the literature.
4.2. Determination of material constants

The characteristics of woven ¯ber G/E composite plate are de¯ned completely by
four material constants: elastic modulus in the longitudinal direction (E1 ), elastic
modulus in the transverse direction (E2 ), in-plane shear modulus (G12 ), and Pois-
son's ratio (12 ), where the su±xes 1 and 2 indicate the principal material directions.
These constants are determined experimentally and the corresponding values are
listed in Table 3. The composite laminates of eight layers are fabricated to evaluate
the material constants.
4.3. Numerical and experimental results

In the present investigation, both the numerical computation and experimental
study are carried out for an eight-layered (0/90)4 woven roving G/E composite plate.
The geometrical dimensions considered for the woven roving composite plates are:
length, a ¼ width, b ¼ 0:24 m, thickness, h ¼ 0:003 m. The material properties of the
woven roving G/E composite plates are considered as given in Table 3. Square size
delamination was provided at the mid-plane as shown in Fig. 1. In this study, the
e®ects of delamination area, boundary conditions, ¯ber orientations, number of
layers, and aspect ratio on the natural frequencies are investigated.
4.4. E®ect of delamination area

To study the e®ect of delamination area on the natural frequencies of a delaminated
plate, square size mid-plane delaminations were introduced at 6.25%, 25%, and
56.25% of total plate area. The fundamental natural frequency of the delaminated
(0/90)4 plate is depicted in Fig. 4 as a function of the delamination area for a
Table 3. Geometrical dimensions and material properties

of composite plates.
E11 ¼ E22 ¼ 7:7 GPa, G12 ¼ G23 ¼ G31 ¼ 2:81 Gpa

¼ 0:17, ¼ 1661:25 kg/m 3 , a ¼ b ¼ 0:24 m, h ¼ 0:003 m
Experimental Result
Natural frequency in Hz
30 FEM Result
25
20
15
10
0 20 40 60
Delamination area (%)

Fig. 4. Natural frequency versus delamination of woven ¯ber cantilever composite plates.
cantilever specimen. The natural frequency obtained from the numerical analysis is
found to be in a good agreement with the experimental result. The fundamental
frequencies for the 6.25%, 25%, and 56.25% delaminated plates are found to decrease
by 10%, 14%, and 22%, respectively, as compared to an un-delaminated plate.
The same study was extended to the composite plates with four sides clamped and
four sides simply supported, the results of which are presented in Figs. 5 and 6,
respectively. The numerical results show a good agreement with the experimental
ones for both clamped and simply supported boundary conditions. The fundamental
natural frequencies for the 6.25%, 25%, and 56.25% delaminated plates are found to
decrease by 14%, 19.5%, and 35% for four sides simply supported laminate and
5.23%, 22%, and 32% for four sides clamped condition as compared to the
un-delaminated plate. This result reveals that for low delamination area (6.25%) the
natural frequency of the composite plates with four sides clamped is least a®ected as
compared with the cantilever boundary condition and four sides simply supported
condition.
For high delamination area (56.25%), the natural frequency is least a®ected for
the cantilever boundary condition as compared to the other two boundary con-
ditions. But relatively large delamination area has considerable e®ect on the
200 Experimental Result

FEM Result
180
160
140
120
100
0 20 40 60
Fig. 5. Natural frequency versus delamination of woven ¯ber composite plates clamped at four sides.
110
Experimental Result
100 FEM Result
90
80
70
60
50
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Fig. 6. Natural frequency versus delamination of woven ¯ber composite plate simply supported at four
sides.
fundamental natural frequency of all the three boundary conditions. From the pre-
sent study, it is noticed that the natural frequency decreases in general with the
increase of the delamination area invariably for all the three boundary conditions.
4.5. E®ect of boundary conditions

To investigate the in°uence of boundary conditions on the natural frequencies of
delaminated plates, three types of boundary conditions are considered, namely,
SSSS (four edges simply supported), where u ¼ w ¼ y ¼ 0, at x ¼ 0, a and
v ¼ w ¼ x ¼ 0, at y ¼ 0, b; CCCC (four edges clamped), where
u ¼ v ¼ w ¼ x ¼ y ¼ 0, at x ¼ 0, a and y ¼ 0, b; CF F F (cantilever), where
u ¼ v ¼ w ¼ x ¼ y ¼ 0, at x ¼ 0. The specimen taken for the study was of eight-
layered composite plate having stacking sequence of (0/90)4 with 25% of delami-
nation area.
The natural frequencies of 25% delaminated composite plates obtained exper-
imentally and numerically are given in Table 4. From this table, it is observed that
the numerical and experimental results are in good agreement for all the boundary
conditions. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd mode natural frequencies are found to be the least
(21.5, 47.0, and 135.7 Hz) for CF F F (cantilever) condition and the highest
(145.0, 285.0, and 450.0 Hz) for CCCC (four sides clamped) condition. The
fundamental natural frequency of delaminated plate with four sides simply sup-
ported and cantilever boundary conditions decrease by 44.48% and 85.17%,
Table 4. Natural frequencies (Hz) of experimental and FEM results for 25% delaminated plate with
di®erent boundary conditions.
Experimental result FEM result

Boundary conditions 1st mode 2nd mode 3rd mode 1st mode 2nd mode 3rd mode
Four sides clamped 145.0 285.0 450.0 156.4 295.2 471.2
Four sides simply supported 80.5 186.0 330.0 79.9 200.6 349.4
Cantilever 21.5 47.0 135.7 22.7 48.5 128.4
respectively, with respect to four sides clamped condition. The above experimental
result reveals that the natural frequencies of delaminated plates are greatly depen-
dent on the boundary conditions, i.e., the more strongly the plate is restrained, the
greater is the e®ect of delamination on the natural frequencies for all the cases.
4.6. E®ect of ¯ber orientations

In order to know the e®ect of ¯ber orientation on natural frequencies of the 25%
delaminated plate (8-layers), three types of ¯ber orientations, i.e., ½ð0=90Þ2 s ,
½ð30= 30Þ2 s , ½ð45= 45Þ2 s , are considered. The changes in the natural frequency as
a function of ¯ber orientation are presented in Fig. 7 for the cantilever boundary
condition. The results obtained for free vibration of the plates by the experimental
and FEM analysis are in good agreement. From Fig. 7, it is observed that the fun-
damental natural frequency of the 25% delaminated plate with 30 and 45 orien-
tation decrease by 2.32% and 9.30%, respectively, with respect to the 0 orientation.
This reveals that the fundamental natural frequency of a delaminated plate decreases
with the increase in ¯ber orientation, but the decrease in the fundamental natural
frequency is not conspicuous.
4.7. E®ect of number of layers of laminate

To examine the e®ects of number of layers on natural frequency of the 25% dela-
minated [(0/90)4] plate, three di®erent types of laminate are fabricated, i.e., made up
of 4, 6, and 8 layers, respectively. All the geometrical and material properties of the
laminates are the same as those given in Table 3 except the density. The density of
the laminates taken for this example is 1,402 and 1,599 kg/m3 for 4 and 6 layers,
respectively. The natural frequencies for free vibration as obtained from exper-
imental study and numerical analysis for the cantilever boundary condition show a
good agreement as shown in Fig. 8. The change in natural frequencies as a function of
FEM Result
22
20
18
0 10 20 30 40 50
Fiber orientation (o)
Fig. 7. Natural frequency versus ¯ber orientation for delaminated woven ¯ber cantilever composite plate.
Experimental Result
30 FEM Result
20
10
0
4 5 6 7 8 9
Number of layers
Fig. 8. Natural frequency versus number of layers for delaminated woven ¯ber composite plate.
the number of layers as depicted in Fig. 8 reveals that the fundamental natural
frequency of the delaminated plate increases with the increase in number of layers.
The increase in the fundamental natural frequency of the delaminated plate is 29%
and 79% for 6 and 8 layers laminate, respectively, as compared with a four layered
laminate. This result indicates that relatively higher number of layers has con-
siderable e®ect on the fundamental natural frequency.
4.8. E®ect of aspect ratio

To investigate the in°uence of aspect ratio on the natural frequencies of the 25%
delaminated (0/90)4 plate, three di®erent aspect ratios, i.e. a=b ¼ 1:0, 1.5, and 2.0,
are considered. The plate dimensions vary for di®erent aspect ratios, but with the
thickness (h ¼ 0:003 m) kept unchanged. For the aspect ratio of 1.0, a ¼ 0:24 m and
b ¼ 0:24 m; for 1.5, a ¼ 0:24 m and b ¼ 0:16 m; for 2.0, a ¼ 0:24 m and b ¼ 0:12 m.
The variation in the fundamental natural frequencies as a function of aspect ratio is
given in Fig. 9 for the cantilever boundary condition. A good agreement is observed
between the numerical and experimental results. The fundamental natural frequency
of the delaminated plate with 1.5 and 2.0 aspect ratio is found to increase by two
times and four times, respectively, as compared to the case with an aspect ratio

FEM Result
80
60
40
20
0
1 1.5 2 2.5
Aspect ratio (a/b)
Fig. 9. Natural frequency versus aspect ratio for delaminated woven ¯ber composite plates.
of 1.0. This indicates that increasing the aspect ratio results in an increase of the
natural frequency of a delaminated plate.
5. Conclusion
In this study, a ¯nite element model for a composite plate with a single mid-plane
delamination has been developed. The present results compare well with those
existing in the literature. The in°uences of various parameters, the delamination
area, boundary conditions, ply orientation, number of layers, and aspect ratio, on the
natural frequencies of woven roving delaminated plates are investigated. Based on
the numerical and experimental results, the following conclusions can be drawn:
. Good agreement exists between the experimental and numerical results.

. The frequencies of vibration decrease with the introduction and further increase in
the size of delamination in woven ¯ber composite plates.

. Numerical and experimental results also show that the e®ect of delamination on
the modal parameters of delaminated composite plates depends not only on the
size but also on the boundary conditions.
. For the cantilever boundary condition, the natural frequency decreases with the
increase in ¯ber orientation angle.
. The natural frequency of a delaminated composite plate increases with the
increase in number of layers for the cantilever boundary condition.
. Increase in aspect ratios also increases the natural frequency of a delaminated
composite cantilever plate.
References
1. R. D. Adams, P. Crawley, C. J. Pye and J. Stone, A vibration testing for non destruc-
tively assessing the integrity of a structures, Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science
20 (1978) 93100.
2. C. N. Della and D. Shu, Vibration delaminated composites: a review, Applied Mechanics
Reviews 60 (2007) 120.
3. R. L. Ramkumar, S. V. Kulkarni and R. B. Pipes, Free vibration frequencies of delami-
nated beam, 34th Annual Technical Conference Proceedings of Reinforced Plastics/
Composite Institute, Section 22-E (The Society of the Plastics Industry, 1979), pp. 15.
4. W. Ostachowicz and M. Krawczuk, Dynamic analysis of delaminated composite beam,
Machine Vibration 3 (1994) 107116.
5. S. Lee, T. Park and G. Z. Voyiadjis, Vibration analysis of multi-delaminated beams,
Composites, Part B 34 (2003) 647659.
6. L. Brandinelli and R. Massabo, Free vibration of delaminated beam type structures with
crack bridging, Composites Structures 61 (2003) 129142.
7. T. Park, S. Lee and G. Z. Voyiadjis, Recurrent single delaminated beam model for
vibration analysis of multi-delaminated beams, Journal of Engineering Mechanics 130
(2004) 10721082.
8. H. Y. Kim and W. Hwang, E®ect of debonding on natural frequencies and frequency
response function on honey comb sandwich beam, Composites Structures 55 (2002) 5162.
9. D. Shu and C. N. Della, Free vibration analysis of composite beams with two non
overlapping delaminations, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 46 (2004)
509526.
10. A. R. Othman and D. C. Barton, Failure initiation and propagation characteristics of
honeycomb sandwich composites, Composites Structures 85 (2008) 126138.
11. J. F. Zhu, Y. Gu and L. Tong, Formulation of reference surface element and its appli-
cation in dynamic analysis of delaminated composite beams, Composites Structures 68
(2005) 481490.
12. W. C. Yuan, L. Zhou and F. G. Yuan, Wave re°ection and transmission in composite
beams containing semi-in¯nite delamination, Journal of Sound and Vibration 313 (2008)
676695.
13. F. Ju, H. P. Lee and K. H. Lee, Finite element analysis of free vibration of delaminated
composite plate, Composites Engineering 5 (1995) 195209.
14. P. K. Parhi, S. K. Bhattacharyya and P. K. Sinha, Finite element dynamic analysis of

laminated composite plates with multiple delaminations, Journal of Reinforced Plastics
and Composites 19 (2000) 863882.
15. A. Zak, M. Krawczuk and W. Ostachowicz, Vibration of a laminated composite plate

with closing delamination, Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 12
(2001) 545551.
16. L. H. Yam, Z. Wei, L. Cheng and W. O. Wong, Numerical analysis of multi-layer com-
posite plates with internal delamination, Computers and Structures 82 (2004) 627637.
17. J. Oh, M. Cho and J. S. Kim, Dynamic analysis of composite plate with multiple dela-
minations based on higher-order zigzag theory, International Journal of Solids and
Structures 42 (2005) 61226140.
18. R. Olsson, M. V. Donadon and B. G. Falzon, Delamination threshold load for dynamic
compact of an plates, International Journal of Solids and Structures 43 (2006)
31243141.
19. R. W. Champanelli and J. J. Engblom, The e®ect of delaminations in graphite/PEEK
composite plates on modal dynamic characteristics, Composites Structures 31 (1995)
195202.
20. H. Luo and S. Hanagud, Delamination modes in composite plates, Journal of Aerospace
Engineering 9 (1996) 106113.
21. S. S. Kessler, S. M. Spearing, M. J. Attala and E. S. Cesnik, Damage detection in com-
posite materials using frequency response method, Composites, Part B 33 (2002) 8795.
22. K. Azouaoui, N. Ouali, Y. Ouroua, A. Mesbah and T. Boukharouba, Damage charac-
terization of glass/polyster composite plates subjected to low energy impact fatigue,
Journal of Sound and Vibration 308 (2007) 504513.
23. M. Krawczuk, A. Zak and W. Ostachowicz, Dynamics of cracked composite material
structure, Computational Mechanics 20 (1997) 7983.
24. T. P. Chang, C. Y. Hu and K. C. Jane, Vibration of delaminated composite plates under
axial load, Mechanics of Structures and Machines 26 (1998) 195218.
25. J. P. Hou and G. Jeronimidis, Vibration of delaminated thin composite plates, Compo-
sites, Part B 30 (1999) 989995.
26. A. Chattopadhyay, A. G. Radu and D. Dragomir-Daescu, A high order theory for
dynamic stability analysis of delaminated composite plates, Computational Mechanics 26
(2000) 302308.
27. R. P. Thornburgh and A. Chattopadhyay, Combined delamination and matrix cracking
in adaptive composite laminates. Proceedings of the 44th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/
ASC structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference (Norfolk, VA, 710
April, 2003), pp. 33953405.
28. J. Sancho and A. Miravete, Design of composite structures including delamination

studies, Composites Structures 26 (2006) 283290.
29. A. Karmkar, H. Roy and K. Kishimoto, Free vibration analysis of delaminated composite
pretwisted shells, Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology 77 (2005) 486490.
30. A. K. Acharya, D. Chakraborty and A. Karmkar, Free vibration of delaminated com-
posite cylindrical shell roofs, International Conference on Vibration Problems (ICOVP)
(Springer, The Netherlands, 2007).
31. T. Roy and D. Chakraborty, Delamination in FRP laminates with holes under transverse
impact, Materials and Design 29 (2008) 124132.
32. C. K. Gim, Plate ¯nite element modeling of laminated plates, Composites Structures 52
(1996) 157168.
33. S. W. Tsai and H. T. Hahn, Introduction to Composite Materials (Technomic, Stamford,
CT, 1980).
34. M. H. H. Shen and J. E. Grady, Free vibrations of delaminated beams, AIAA Journal 30
(1992) 13611370.
View publication stats

18.IJSSD 2012 Delaminated

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

18.IJSSD 2012 Delaminated

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

Numerical and experimental study on free vibration of delaminated woven

Article in International Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics · April 2012

Shishir Kumar Sahu Pravat Parhi

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

stochastic dynamics of composite curved panels View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

NUMERICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

J. MOHANTY*, S. K. SAHU*,‡ and P. K. PARHI†

*Department of Civil Engineering

Rourkela, Orissa 769008, India

Received 18 August 2010

Keywords: Delamination; composite plate; fundamental frequency; woven roving glassepoxy;

composite laminates are quite limited. Delamination is generally a more complex

presented a four-noded ¯nite element formulation based on the e±cient high-order

investigation to the delamination behavior of glass/polyester composite plates sub-

Fig. 1. Rectangular laminated composite plate with mid-plane delamination.

2. Finite Element Formulation

2.1. Delamination modeling

Fig. 2. Laminate geometry with multiple delaminations.

Fig. 3. Three arbitrary delaminations leading to four sub-laminates r, s, t, and u.

> @u > >

In order to satisfy the compatibility and equilibrium requirements at the common

usc ¼ u 0s þ ðz z 0s Þx ; vsc ¼ v 0s þ ðz z 0s Þy ; ð4Þ

u 0s , v 0s ¼ mid-plane displacement of the sth sub-laminate along the x and y direction

original laminate without delamination as:

where kxx , kyy , and kxy are the plate curvatures.

¼ 6Q Q 22 Q 26 75: 2yy ; ; ð8Þ

4. Results and Discussion

4.1. Comparison with previous study

Table 1. Comparison of fundamental natural frequency (Hz) for un-delaminated

Boundary condition Results of Ju et al.13 Present FEM result

Four sides simply supported 164.370 163.651

Table 2. Comparison of fundamental frequency for cantilever composite beams

4.2. Determination of material constants

4.3. Numerical and experimental results

4.4. E®ect of delamination area

Table 3. Geometrical dimensions and material properties

E11 ¼ E22 ¼ 7:7 GPa, G12 ¼ G23 ¼ G31 ¼ 2:81 Gpa

Delamination area (%)

200 Experimental Result

4.5. E®ect of boundary conditions

Experimental result FEM result

4.6. E®ect of ¯ber orientations

4.7. E®ect of number of layers of laminate

4.8. E®ect of aspect ratio

100 Experimental Result

. Good agreement exists between the experimental and numerical results.

the size of delamination in woven ¯ber composite plates.

14. P. K. Parhi, S. K. Bhattacharyya and P. K. Sinha, Finite element dynamic analysis of

15. A. Zak, M. Krawczuk and W. Ostachowicz, Vibration of a laminated composite plate

28. J. Sancho and A. Miravete, Design of composite structures including delamination

View publication stats

You might also like

J. MOHANTY, S. K. SAHU,‡ and P. K. PARHI†