Using Six-Node Hexagonal Elements to Perform Free Vibration Analysis of Laminated Composite Conoidal, Elliptical Paraboloid, and Hyperbolic Paraboloid Shells

Abstract

Laminated composite structures are one of the recent developments in the field of engineering with high strength and better cost-to-weight ratio over the isotropic materials. The present study is mainly focused on the free vibration analysis of laminated composite shells using six-node hexagonal elements which is the first one of its kind. Three different shells, namely conoidal, elliptical paraboloid and hyperbolic paraboloid, have been analyzed with different support conditions, and varying ratios in geometry for each shell. The non-dimensional fundamental frequencies have been determined by performing finite element analysis. The results have shown that the frequencies obtained using six-node hexagonal elements are in close agreement and higher when compared with those available in the literature using eight-node quadrilateral elements. This study has proved that six-node hexagonal elements can be used to perform analysis of laminated composite shells. Using this hexagonal element, there is a lot of scope for future research in the analysis of laminated composites.