Experimental and numerical analysis of free vibration of delaminated curved panel

Abstract In this article, the effect of delamination on the free vibration behaviour of the laminated composite curved panels of different geometries (cylindrical, spherical, elliptical, hyperboloid and flat) is investigated. The laminated structure with seeded delamination is modelled mathematically using two different higher-order shear deformable kinematic models. The desired governing equation is obtained using classical Hamilton's principle and discretised with the help of finite element steps. The frequency responses are computed numerically through an in-house computer code developed in MATLAB environment. The convergence behaviour of the present numerical models have been checked and validated by comparing the frequency responses with those of the available published results. Further, the responses are also computed experimentally using CDAQ-9178 (National Instruments) in conjunction with LABVIEW software for the laminated plate with different delamination (size, location and position) and compared with present numerical results. In addition, the frequencies are also computed for the laminated structure with and without delamination using commercial finite element package ANSYS APDL . Finally, the effect of different materials and geometrical parameters including the size, location and position of the delamination on the free vibration behaviour of laminated composite shell panel has been analysed numerically and discussed in detail.