Vibration Analysis of Tapered Composite Materials

Tapered composite beams formed by terminating or dropping-off some of the plies from primary structure are being used in various engineering applications. Because of their structural tailoring capabilities, damage tolerance and potential for creating significant weight savings in helicopter yoke, robot arms and turbine blades, tapered composite beams have received much attention from engineers and researchers. Design of mechanical components using tapered composite beams requires a better understanding of their behavior on free and forced vibrations. Free and forced vibration analysis including the effects of axial force and damping of tapered composite beams is conducted using conventional, and higher-order finite elements and the Rayleigh-Ritz method. Composite beam samples are manufactured and tested for the determination of mechanical properties and damping loss factor. A detailed parametric study is conducted to investigate the effects of boundary conditions, laminate configuration, taper configurations, taper angle, the ratio of the length of the thick section to the length of thin section, axial force, and damping.