Modal analysis of laminated composite plates by a new hybrid

assumed strain nite element

Flavio Stochino
1,2
, Antonio Cazzani
1
1
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Architecture (DICAAR), University of
Cagliari, Italy
E-mail:antonio.cazzani@unica.it
2
Department of Architecture & Design and Urban Planning (DADU), University of Sassari, Italy
E-mail: fstochino@unica.it
Keywords: laminated composite plates, vibration analysis, hybrid nite element method.
SUMMARY. Fibre reinforced plates and shells are funding an increasing interest in engineering ap-
plications; in most cases dynamic phenomena need to be taken into account. Consequently effective
and robust computational tools are sought in order to provide reliable results for the analysis of such
structural models. In this paper the laminate hybrid assumed-strain plate element presented in [1],
and used there in a static analysis, has been extended to the dynamic realm. This model is derived
within the framework of the so called First-order Shear Deformation Theory (FSDT) [2], [3]. What
is peculiar in this assumed strain nite element is the direct modelling of the in-plane strain com-
ponents; the corresponding stress components are deduced via constitutive law. By enforcing the
equilibrium equations for each lamina, account taken of continuity requirements, the out-of-plane
shear stresses are computed and, nally, constitutive law provides the corresponding strains. The
resulting global strain eld depends on a xed number of parameters, regardless of the total number
of layers. Since the proposed element is not locking prone even in the thin plate limit and provides
an accurate description of inter-laminar stresses, an extension to the dynamic range seems to be
particularly attractive. The same kinematic assumptions will lead to the formulation of a consistent
mass matrix. The element, developed in this way, has been extensively tested for several lamination
sequences and comparison with analytical solutions are presented.
1 INTRODUCTION
Several theories have been developed to study the structural behavior of laminated composite
plates, in particular (see Reddy [4]) it is possible to distinguish:
Equivalent Single Layer Theories (ESL) such as: Classical Plate Lamination Theory (CLPT):
an extension of Kirchhoff Plate Theory; First Order Shear Deformation Theory (FSDT): an
extension of Reissner-Mindlin plate theory; Higher-Order Shear Deformation Theories (HS-
DTs): models taking into account non linear shear strain distributions.
Layer-wise Lamination Theory (LLT): it accounts for continuous transverse stresses at inter-
faces separating dissimilar materials. It provides a more kinematically correct representation
of the cross sectional warping due to the deformation of thick laminates.
Three dimensional elasticity.
The use of a shear deformation laminate theory is recommended for at structures where longitudinal
elastic modulus of the lamina is much higher than the shear and the transverse moduli. Indeed, plate
1
made of ber reinforced composite materials are characterized by non negligible shear deformations
in the thickness direction. The FSDT theory has often been considered the best compromise be-
tween the accuracy and the computational cost for a wide class of applications (see [5]). It accounts
the shear deformations along the thickness in the simplest way and gives satisfactory results for a
wide class of structural problems requiring only C
0
continuity for the displacement eld. Its basic
assumptions are: straight lines perpendicular to the midsurface before deformation remain straight
after deformation; transverse normals do not experience elongation, but, in general, do not remain
perpendicular to the midsurface after deformation. Actually these hypothesis lead to two main con-
sequences: the assumption of constant shear stresses along the plate thickness is such that boundary
conditions on the top and on the bottom surface are violated; shear correction factors must be intro-
duced. Several methods have been proposed to improve FSDT results in nite element analysis via
post-processing methods (see [6]-[9]). In addition other rened FSDT models can be found in the
literature based on the assumption that shear strains vary in the thickness in cylindrical bending with
the same law as the shear stresses obtained by integrating the equilibrium equations ([2] and [10]).
Regarding FE models it is usual to present FSDT within the framework of a displacement approach;
however hybrid and mixed formulations have been proposed as well: see for example [11]. In this
paper the laminate hybrid assumed-strain plate element presented in [1] has been extended to dynam-
ics: perfect bonding between laminae and basic assumptions of FSDT theory have been considered.
In-plane components of the strain tensor are interpolated and assumed to vary linearly along the
thickness. The corresponding in-plane stress distribution is deduced, via constitutive law, for each
lamina, whereas out-of-plane shear stresses are computed by integrating the equilibrium equations in
each lamina and taking into account the interlaminar continuity requirements. By means of inverse
constitutive law out-of-plane shear strain are nally obtained. A four node element is derived from
a Hu-Washizu [12] three eld hybrid-mixed variational principle; enforcing its stationary conditions
the stiffness and mass matrix of the element have been obtained. To test the reliability of the ele-
ment in dynamics applications the eigenproblem has been solved for some meaningful benchmark
problems.
2 FINITE ELEMENT MODEL
As correctly stated in [1] a laminate is said to be symmetric if the layer stacking sequence, the
material properties and the geometry of the layers are symmetric with reference to the midplane

of the laminate. From now on only laminated plate satisfying a symmetric lamination scheme
will be taken into account. Let us consider a 3-D continuum occupying a volume , bounded
by a smooth surface composed of
u
(where displacements are prescribed) and
s
(where
traction boundary conditions must be fullled). For such a solid this three-eld variational principle
(see [12]) can be formulated:

HW
(
ij
,
ij
, u
i
) =
1
2
_

(C
ijmn

ij

mn
b
i
u
i
)dV
_

ij
([
ij

1
2
(u
i,j
+u
j,i
)]dV

_
s
f
i
u
i
dS
_
u

ij
n
j
(u
i
u
i
)dS.
(1)
In (1) C
ijmn
,
ij
,
ij
, u
i
represent, respectively, the Cartesian components of the fourth-order
elasticity tensor, of the second-order stress and strain tensors and of displacements vector; f
i
and b
i
denotes, respectively, the component of the surface forces and of the body forces and, nally, u
i
are
the prescribed displacement components.
2
If Constitutive Law (CL) is a priori assumed, by applying the divergence theorem the stress compo-
nents can be eliminated from (1) obtaining the following modied Hu-Washizu functional depending
only on strain and displacement elds:

HW
(
ij
, u
i
) =
1
2
_

(C
ijmn

ij

mn
)dV
_

(C
ijmn

mn,j
+b
i
)u
i
dV
+
_
s
(C
ijmn

mn
n
j
f
i
)u
i
dS +
_
u
(C
ijmn

mn
n
j
u
i
)dS.
(2)
According to the classical Reissner-Mindlin model the in-plane components (u
1
, u
2
) of the dis-
placement eld vary linearly along the transverse direction of the laminated plate, while the normal
component, u
3
is constant along the x
3
axis (see Figure 1).
u

(x
1
, x
2
, x
3
) = x
3

(x
1
, x
2
) ( = 1, 2) u
3
(x
1
, x
2
, x
3
) = u
3
(x
1
, x
2
). (3)
A simple four node (12 degrees-of-freedom) laminated plate with constant thickness can be de-
Figure 1: Rotations of the transverse line element of the plate
1
and
2
and corresponding Cartesian
components,
1
,
2
of the innitesimal rotation vector, extracted from [1].
veloped as follows (see Figure 2). Let us assume a local reference system (x
1
, x
2
, x
3
), where the
x
1
x
2
axes are parallel to the 1-2 and 1-4 sides respectively, while the x
3
axis is determined by the
right hand rule. The plane natural reference system (
1
,
2
) characterized by 1 <
i
< 1 (i = 1, 2)
is related to the local one by the following relationships (as in the standard isoparamentric elements):
x
1
(
i
) =
4

l=1
N
l
(
i
)x
l
i
, (4)
where
l
i
(l = 1, ..., 4) are the nodal coordinates of the element, while N
l
(
i
) are the shape functions
dened by:
N
l
(
i
) =
1
4
(1 +
1

l
1
)(1 +
2

l
2
)) (l = 1, ..., 4). (5)
With reference to the natural reference system
1
,
2
the following in plane components of the
strain tensor
ij
are dened:
3

k
11
=

11
= x
3

11
= x
3
(
0
+
1

1
+
2

2
) (6)

k
22
=

22
= x
3

22
= x
3
(
0
+
1

1
+
2

2
) (7)

k
12
=

12
= x
3

12
= x
3
(
0
+
1

1
+
2

2
) (8)
Figure 2: The rectangular Hybrid Assumed-Strain Laminated element (HASL), extracted from [1].
The symmetric stacking sequence [, , ] is dened by the orientation angle of each layer with
reference to the x
1
axis.
Taking into account (6)-(7) it is possible to dene a strain vector :
= {
0
,
1
,
2
,
0
,
1
,
2
,
0
,
1
,
2
}
T
. (9)
The in-plane stress components can be expressed via CL (see [1]) while the out-of-plane compo-
nents can be determined by means of the Linear Momentum Balance (LMB) equations:

k
13,3
= x
3
(
k
11,1
+
k
12,2
) (10)

k
23,3
= x
3
(
k
21,1
+
k
22,2
). (11)
nally the out-of-plane strain components
k
13
,
k
23
are dened by the inverse CL:

k
13
=

k
13
2C
k
55

k
23
=

k
23
2C
k
44
. (12)
In order to express the Cartesian strain components
k
mn
of the k-th lamina, the strains dened in
the natural reference system
k
ij
must be transformed in the local reference system:

k
mn
= J
im

k
ij
J
jn
, (13)
where J
im
denotes the elements of the Jacobian matrix. Considering (5), the displacement eld can
be expressed in terms of the transverse displacements u
3
and of the rotations
i
evaluated at each
4
node of the nite element:
u
1
= x
3
4

l=1
N
l
(
i
)
l
1
(14)
u
2
= x
3
4

l=1
N
l
(
i
)
l
2
(15)
u
3
=
4

l=1
N
l
(
i
)u
l
3
(16)
2.1 The nite element stifness and mass matrix
The stiffness matrix K can be obtained introducing the previous interpolation elds into the mod-
ied Hu-Washizu functional (2) and enforcing the stationarity conditions to the following discretized
variational principle:

H,e
HW,mod
=
1
2

T
H

+
T
Gq F
T
q, (17)
where:

T
H

k
_
_

e
C
k
ijmn
_
h
k
h
k1

k
ij

k
mn
dx
3
dA
_
; (18)

T
Gq =

k
_

e
(C
k
ijmn
_
h
k
h
k1

k
mn,j
u
i
dx
3
dA+
_

L
e
(C
k
ijmn
_
h
k
h
k1

k
mn
n
j
u
i
dx
3
dl
_
; (19)
F
T
q =
_

e
b
i
u
i
dA; (20)
(21)
where u
i
is a displacement eld dened only on the boundary
L
e
of the e-th element, whose
domain is

e
. Referring to and q, the stationary conditions of
H,e
HW,mod
yield to:
_

T
H

G
G 0
_ _

q
_
=
_
0
F
_
(22)
By means of static condensation techniques can be eliminated and the following discrete equilib-
rium equations are obtained from (22):
Kq = F, (23)
where:
K = G
T
H
1

G. (24)
If represents the material density, body forces due to inertia can be taken into account:
b

= u

( = 1, 2) b
3
= u
3
. (25)
5
Figure 3: Laminated cantilever plate (a) and laminated simple supported plate (b).
If (3), (14)-(16) and (25) are used, (20) provides M, the mass matrix which turns out to be a
consistent one, corresponding to that provided by a classical FSDT plate model:
q
T
Mq =
_

e
_
h
k
h
k1
x
2
3

1

1
x
2
3

2

2

u
3
u
3
dx
3
dA. (26)
3 MODAL ANALYSIS
An undamped structure, with no external loads applied to the unrestrained degrees of freedom
undergoes harmonic motion (see [13]). The governing equation of undamped free vibration is:
M u(t) + Ku(t) = 0, (27)
and its solution can be easily expressed by:
u = usin t, (28)
where u is the amplitude of nodal d.o.f. vibration and represents the circular frequency. Introduc-
ing (28) into (27), we obtain the formulation of the generalized eigenproblem:
_
K
2
M

u = 0. (29)
Equation (29) has the trivial static solution u = 0, while the non-trivial time-dependent solution
corresponds to the eigenvalues
2
which satisfy:
det
_
K
2
M

= 0. (30)
4 APPLICATIONS
In order to test the perfomance of the FE model to the dynamic eld the eigenproblem has
been solved with reference to two simple example: a laminated cantilever plate (LCP) and a lam-
inated simple supported plates (LSSP) (see Figure 3). The authors have considered an identical
orthotropic material for each layers but several and different stacking sequences. The material me-
chanical properties are (see [4]): E
1
= 300 GPa, E
1
/E
2
= 25, G
12
= G
13
= 0.5E
2
, G
23
= 0.2E
2
,

12
=
13
= 0.25.
6
Figure 4: Relative error between FEM fundamental frequency and the analytical one for LCP.
Figure 5: First mode shapes for the LCP.
Figure 6: Natural Frequencies for LCP [0/90] versus different values of the rst layer thickness .
4.1 Laminated Cantilever Plate
In Figure 4 the results concerning the relative error between the fundamental frequency produced
by FEM and the analytical one for LCP are shown. The benchmark solution for a cantilever Timo-
shenko beam has been extracted from [14] and, in order to have a thorough comparison, the degrees
7
of freedom (DOFs) related to the torsional rotation have been constrained. In this way it was pos-
sible to reproduce the fundamental frequency of a beam. The relative error is plotted against the
mesh size, dened by the ratio d/L between element size d and span length L. On the left side of
Figure 4 the results corresponding to a homogeneous orthotropic LCP are shown, while on the right
side those obtained for a symmetric stacking sequence are reported. Mesh renement produces, of
course, convergence. In order to appreciate how the frequencies of the different mode shapes vary
as a function of the rst layer thickness (when the total thickness h is kept constant) a sensitiv-
ity analysis of the modes frequencies has been developed for the LCP (without restraining, in this
case, the torsional DOFs). The results are shown in Figures 5 and 6. A thick plate (L/h = 20)
is considered in Figure (6), left, while a thin one (L/h = 100) in Figure (6), right. The following
dimensionless angular frequency has been used:
= L
2
/h
_
/E
2
. (31)
It is clear that there are four purely exural and two torsional modes (see Figure (5)). The general
trend is that increasing the rst layer thickness the cantilever stiffness is increased and the exural
modes have higher frequency. This effect is less apparent in case of torsional modes and for this
reason there are some changes in modes shape order.
Figure 7: Relative error between FEM fundamental frequency and the analytical one for LSSP.
Figure 8: Selected modes shapes for the LSSP.
8
Figure 9: Natural Frequencies variations for LSSP [0/90] versus different values of rst layer thick-
ness .
4.2 Simple Supported Laminated Plate
In Figure 7 the results concerning the relative error between the fundamental frequency of the
FEM and the analytical one for the LSSP are depicted. The benchmark solution has been extracted
from [4]. As in the previous case the relative error is plotted against the mesh size, dened by the
ratio d/L between element size d and span length L. On the left side of Figure 7 the results corre-
spond to a homogeneous orthotropic LSSP, while on the right side they correspond to a symmetric
stacking sequence. Also in this case we can see that convergence is achieved with mesh renement.
As it has been done previously for the LCP it is possible to calculate how the frequencies of the
different mode shapes vary with the thickness of the rst layer when the total plate thickness h is
kept constant (see Figure 9). Some selected modes of the oscillating plate have been labelled and
shown in Figure 8. Considering Figure 9 on the left hand results for a thick plate (L/h = 20) are
plotted and on the right hand those for a thin one (L/h = 100) are shown. The same dimensionless
frequency dened in (31) has been used. By increasing the rst layer thickness the plate stiffness
in one direction is augmented while the stiffness in the orthogonal direction is reduced. For this
reason a large change of the modes frequencies occurs. It is interesting to note how the A and the D
modes seem to be almost insensitive to this variation because they involve the stiffness of the plate
in both directions and this produces a kind of compensation.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The Hybrid Assumed Strain FE is not locking prone and it proved to be a powerful tool for
dynamic analysis. With a low number of elements it is possible to obtain the fundamental frequency
of a structure with a small relative error (see Figures 4 and 7). Furthermore, interesting results
concerning the sensitivity analysis of the stacking sequence have been obtained and explained taking
into account how different thicknesses of each layer can affect the modal analysis. The FE model
is capable of managing several stacking sequence in an effective way. Further developments are
expected: one of the next targets is to obtain the modal behaviour for non symmetric stacking-
sequence. A subsequent step that the authors want to perform is introducing a delamination having
a known shape in order to study how it affects the modes frequencies and the relevant mode shapes.
9
6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research has been partially funded by MIURunder grant PRIN2010-2011 (project 2010MBJK5B
Dynamic, Stability and Control of Flexible Structures).
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