Vibration of completely free composite plates and cylindrical shell panels by a higher-order theory (Q1960979)

This paper deals with free vibrations of open laminated circular cylindrical panels having a rectangular plan-form and all edges free of external tractions. The material arrangement of the panels may vary from a single isotropic layer to general angle-ply lay-up. The analysis is based on the application of Ritz approach to the energy functional of the Love-type version of unified shear-deformable shell theory. A through-thickness parabolic distribution of the transverse shear deformation is mainly assumed but, for comparison purposes, the authors also present numerical results that are based on the classical Love-type shell theory. The mathematical formulation is given in a general form, appropriate for any set of basis functions. Finally, a variational approach is developed by using a complete functional basis made of orthonormal polynomials.