Effect of hygrothermal environment on the nonlinear free vibration responses of laminated composite plates: A nonlinear Unite element micromechanical approach

Abstract

The present research deals with the nonlinear free vibration responses of laminated composite flat panel under hygrothermal environment, by considering the corrugated material properties of the composite lamina through a micromechanical model. The plate has been modeled in the framework of the higher-order shear deformation theory and Green-Lagrange strain displacement relations have been used to account for the geometric nonlinearity. Moreover, the present formulation incorporates all the nonlinear higher order terms arising in the model to capture the exact flexure of the panel. Hamilton's principle has been adopted to derive the system governing equations and suitable nonlinear finite element steps have been employed for discretization. The responses are computed using direct iterative method and compared with those available published results for validation purpose. Numerical illustrations are presented to investigate the effect of various parameters (thickness ratio, support conditions and lamination scheme) on the nonlinear frequency responses of laminated composite plate under hygrothermal environment using the present model and discussed in details.