Modelling and predicting the dynamic response of an axially graded viscoelastic core sandwich beam

Abstract

The present study explored the influence of axial gradation of viscoelastic materials on the dynamic response of the sandwich beam for structural applications. The finite element (FE) formulations are used to model and investigate dynamic response of the sandwich beam. The classical beam theory is used to develop the FE formulations and Lagrange's approach is considered to obtain the equations of motion (EOM). FE code is developed and validated with the existing literature and also conducted the convergence study for the developed FE method. Further, the influence of different viscoelastic materials and boundary conditions on the dynamic response of the sandwich beam is investigated. Four different axial gradation configurations of viscoelastic materials are considered for the present work to explore the influence on natural frequency, loss factor and frequency response of the sandwich beam. The modeled axial gradation of viscoelastic material has displayed a considerable impact on the peak vibrational amplitude response of the sandwich beam for all the boundary conditions and these configurations improved the damping capabilities at different configurations for the structural applications.

Keywords

• Finite element method
• Sandwich beam
• Viscoelastic material
• Natural frequency
• Loss factor
• Boundary condition