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IJARSE, Vol. No.3, Issue No.12, December 2014 ISSN-2319-8354(E)

EFFECT OF VOLUME FRACTION AND FIBER ORIENTATION

ON MODAL CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPOSITE BEAM

S. P. Parida1 and R. R. Dash2

1
Konark Institute of Science and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, (India)
2
College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, (India)

ABSTRACT

Now a day’s laminated composite beams are commonly preferred for various engineering applications on priority
basis due to more suitability and advantages over metallic beams. These beams are often subjected to different
working environments and loads during their operation. Hence the Dynamic analyses of composite components are
quite essential to avoid the failure of the component, which can be forecasted and analyzed by the determination of
natural frequency and mode shape. The use of the composite structures according to the need of the applications
decides the end conditions and geometry of the composite beam which plays an important role during deciding the
mechanical properties like stiffness and rigidity of the composite material. Also it is true that the mechanical
properties depend upon the orientation of fiber layer, boundary condition and geometrical shape of the beam which
in turns reflects on the natural frequency. The mechanical property of a composite material can be expressed as a
function of fiber and matrix volume fraction. In this paper the effect of variation of fiber volume fraction on
mechanical properties as a function of natural frequency is studied for different boundary condition of the beam for
different stacking sequences or layer orientations of the layers using finite element analysis software.

Keywords: Boundary Condition, Dynamic Analysis, E-Glass, Fiber Orientations, Laminated

Composite, Natural Frequency

I INTRODUCTION

The strength of a composite structure depends on its constituent fiber and matrix material. Also for same matrix and
fiber combination, variation of volume fraction, presence of void and variation of geometry of the structure plays
important role for the variation of mechanical properties. The orientation of fiber layer, thickness and boundary
condition also controls the elastic modulus and strength of the composite material. The use of the composite
specimen according to its necessity laid different boundary condition and geometry for it.

A number of researchers had carried out numerous numbers of methods for dynamic analysis of pate like composite
beams. Lee and Yhim [3] analyzed single and two-span continuous composite plate structures subjected to multi-
moving loads using 7-DOF finite element model for computational analysis and third order shear deformation theory
to validate. Koo [4] studied the effects of layer wise in-plane displacements on fundamental frequencies and specific

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IJARSE, Vol. No.3, Issue No.12, December 2014 ISSN-2319-8354(E)
damping capacity for composite laminated plates using FEA method and experimental method. Majid et.al. [5] had
developed frequency response function and modal analysis for composite plate like wing and tested it as cantilever
to get the dynamic properties and its dependency on ply orientation and thickness. Matsunaga [6] determined the
natural frequencies and buckling stresses of cross-ply laminated composite plates under the influence of shear
deformation, thickness change and rotary inertia using the method of power series expansion of displacement
components and Hamilton's principle for above. Davallo et al. [7] studied the mechanical behavior of uni-directional
glass-polyester composites in flexure and tensile testing. The effect of laminate thickness on the mechanical
properties is studied using simple energy model. Mohammed et.al [8] had explained the effect of fiber orientations
on the flexural natural frequencies by finite element (FEA) and experimental approach. Yung et al. [9] presented
transient dynamic finite element analysis of laminated composite under the influence of transverse load by the use of
Newmark scheme and Newton-Raphson method. Liou et al. [10] made an investigation over the transient response
of an E-glass epoxy laminated composite plate impacted by a steel circular cylinder by three-dimensional hybrid
stress finite element program to determine the transverse deflection at centre. Lee et al. [11] investigated the
dynamic behavior of multiply-folded composite laminates using higher order plate theory and the third order finite
element program. The effects of folding angles and ply orientations on the transient responses for various loading
and boundary conditions are studied. Morozov [12] has made a theoretical and experimental characterization of
elastic properties of the textile composites. Ratnaparkhi and Sarnobat [13] made the modal analysis to obtain the
Natural frequencies in free-free boundary condition and validated the results obtained from the FEA using ANSYS
in their work. Khalili et al. [14] used Fourier series to investigate the dynamic response of laminated composite plate
subjected to static and dynamic loading The result is validated by comparing with the result obtained from the FEM
code NISA II. Attaran et al. [15] made a study over the effects of aspect ratio, sweep angle, and stacking sequence of
laminated composites on aero dynamic properties like flutter speed using 2D finite element analysis in conjunction
with Doublet lattice Method. Jweeg et al.[16] made experimental and theoretical study on modulus of elasticity of
composite material due to the reinforcement of different types of fiber like short, long woven, powder, and
particulate shapes. Long et al. [17] presented a general formulation for free and transient vibration analyses of
composite laminated beams for any boundary condition. To confirm the validity of the formulation, the result is
compared with the result obtained from the analytical, experimental and FEA. Parida and Dash [18,19,20] developed
generalized frequency equation taking bending and shearing in to consideration and studied the effect of fiber
orientation, boundary condition and aspect ratio on modal characteristics of a plate like beam using finite element
analysis software.

From the above study it is evident that the orientation of fiber layer and thickness controls the elastic modulus and
strength of the composite material. In this paper the effect of volume fraction and fiber orientation on natural
frequency for different boundary conditions of the beam is to be studied. In section 2 mathematical modeling is
proposed for free vibration analysis of Timoshenko composite beam. The problem for the analysis is defined and
validation of FEA analysis is done in this section also. In section 3 effect of different fiber orientation and fiber
volume fraction on natural frequency for different boundary condition are investigated in a detail.

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IJARSE, Vol. No.3, Issue No.12, December 2014 ISSN-2319-8354(E)

II MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION

The modal analysis of a beam in general refers to the determination of natural frequency and mode shape of the
beam. In general beams the bending phenomenon is pre-dominant. The natural frequency for a beam subjected to
bending action only is given by

(1)

However for a beam undergoing shearing action, the free natural frequency for a beam subjected to shearing is given
by

(2)

Where, in N.m2

The super script s stands for shearing and B stands for bending
In this work, the beam is considered as Timoshenko beam. In Timoshenko beam the shear deformation is considered
for beam analysis. The first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) is used for beam analysis. For analysis, it is
assumed that the cross sections of beam subjected to bending remain plane but not perpendicular to the axis of
application of bending load. Here the effect of bending and shearing is considered. The natural frequencies of the
orthotropic beams (as shown in figure-1) subjected to bending and shearing deformation simultaneously by shear
beam theory is expressed as

(3)

L
b

Figure-1. Figure showing dimension of Cantilever beam

The structure of the composite material is depicted in figure-2. The composite beam of thickness T is constituted by
n number of plies each of equal thickness.

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IJARSE, Vol. No.3, Issue No.12, December 2014 ISSN-2319-8354(E)

Z
th
n PLY

Zn

Z1
X
Figure-2. Multidirectional laminate with co-ordinate notation of individual plies

The mechanical properties of the woven fabric composite beams as a function of volume fraction are given by.

(4)

Where Ui : any mechanical property in functional form, the subscript c, f , m & stands for composite, fiber ,matrix
an void respectively. V,, , E, G, stands for volume fraction, density, poison’s ratio, elastic modulus and shear
modulus respectively.
The fiber reinforced in the beam is in woven form. The elastic constants of the woven fabric composite material are
estimated by relating them to the properties of uni-directional composite material as using following relations:

(5)

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IJARSE, Vol. No.3, Issue No.12, December 2014 ISSN-2319-8354(E)
,

Where the subscript w stands for woven fabric composite

For the variation of fiber orientation, the stiffness of the composite component also varies. Hence the natural
frequency will change accordingly.

Table 1. Mechanical Property of Constituent Materials

Properties Material
Glass fiber Polyester resin
Elasticity modulus 80GPa 3.5GPa
Shear modulus 30.3GPa 1.26GPa
Density 2600 kg/m3 1200kg/m3
Poisson ratio 0.32 0.38

III PROBLEM FORMULATION

E-glass-polyester composite plates like beams are taken for consideration. The mechanical properties of the beam
specimens taken for the study are calculated by using the relations for woven fabric composite as given by the
relations (5) from the constituent material properties for matrix as presented in table-1. The beams are of same
dimension considered with different end boundary conditions i.e. cantilever, clamped-clamped, clamped-simple
supported and simple-simple supported boundary conditions. The geometric dimension of the beam for the study is
taken as L=0.45m, T=0.007m and b =0.07m as shown in figure 2. The analysis is made for different fiber volume
fraction varied from 0.3 to 0.6. The composite beam is composed of six number of ply layers. The orientations of
upper three layers are exactly opposite to the lower three layers. This type of arrangement of plies can be done with
even number of ply layers and are called as symmetric orientation. The general expression of the type of is
expressed as ± ( - - ). Six combinations of plies orientations with 15˚, 30˚and 45˚ are taken for the study. Also
fiber layers with orientation ± (0˚-30˚-15˚ ± (0˚-15˚-30˚), and ± (0˚-0˚-0˚) are considered for the study. The beams were
descretized using solid brick 8 node 185 elements that’s each node has six degrees of freedom. The meshing of the
beam is refined by taking the node length of 5mm for better result. To check the validity of the procedure the
numerical example as in Goda et al. [8] is taken for the study and the result was presented in figure 3.

From the graph it can be observed that the result obtained from the finite element analysis by the help of ANSYS
have closer value both to the experimental result and numerical analysis of the reference

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Figure3: Comparison of natural frequencies for validation of the study

IV RESULT

The first five natural frequencies are obtained by using the commercial finite element analysis (FEA) software
(ANSYS13.0). The first five in plane bending natural frequencies (NF) for the beam specimens are obtained from
finite element analysis by the help of commercial finite element package ANSYS13.0. The variable parameters for
the study are taken as outer fiber orientations, end conditions and volume fraction.

The variations of first five inplane bending natural frequencies obtained from FEA analysis with fiber volume
fraction for different stacking sequences of the fiber layers for cantilever beams are presented through Figure 4(a) to
Figure 4(e). the graph shows that the natural frequency increases with increase in fiber volume fraction. As the fiber
is more stronger than matrix and provides strength to the composite material. So natural frequency increases .

Figure 4(a) variation of 1st NF of cantilever beam Figure 4(b) variation of 2nd NF of cantilever
beam

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Figure 4(c) variation of 3rd NF of Figure 4(d) variation of 4th NF of

cantilever beam cantilever beam

Figure 4(e) variation of 5th NF of

cantilever beam
From the above graph it is clear that increase in volume fraction increases natural frequency for all of the
orientations. The variations of natural frequency with fiber volume fraction for other boundary conditions of the
beam are presented through figure-5 to figure-7.

Figure 5(a) variation of 1st NF of clamped-

Figure 5(b) variation of 2nd NF of clamped-
clamped beam
clamped beam

Figure 5(c) variation of 3rd NF of clamped- Figure 5(d) variation of 4th NF of clamped-
clamped beam clamped beam

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Figure 5(e) variation of 5th NF of clamped-clamped beam

Figure 6(a) variation of 1st NF of Figure 6(b) variation of 2nd NF of

clamped-simple beam clamped-simple beam

Figure 6(c) variation of 3rd NF of Figure 6(d) variation of 4th NF of

clamped-simple beam clamped-simple beam

Figure 6(e) variation of 5th NF of

clamped-simple beam

Figure 7(a) variation of 1st NF of Figure 7(b) variation of 2nd 306

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simple-simple beam
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IJARSE, Vol. No.3, Issue No.12, December 2014 ISSN-2319-8354(E)

Figure 7(d) variation of 4th NF of

Figure 7(c) variation of 3rd NF of
simple-simple beam
simple-simple beam

Figure 7(e) variation of 5th NF of simple-

simple beam
From the above studies it is assumed that as the mechanical properties of the fiber is superior than the mechanical
properties of the matrix , there is increase in natural frequency with increase in fiber volume fraction which in turn
states that there is an increase in bending stiffness. So it is quite important to study the variation of modulus of
elasticity and shear modulus with fiber volume fraction. Figure -8 shows the curve between the Elastic ratios and
Fiber Volume fraction for Polyester-Glass Composite specimens. For the study fiber volume fraction is varied from
0.3 to 0.6 with 5% increment. It is observed that with increase in fiber volume fraction there is an increase in elastic
ratios and it becomes maximum at Vf=0.5 and then starts to decrease thereafter as illustrated in the figure-8. So it
can be said that the choice of volume fraction may be within 0.4 to 0.55 for best rest results for Polyester-Glass
composite materials.

Figure 8 variations of modulus ratios with

V CONCLUSION volume fraction
Composite materials have wide range of engineering applications in various fields. The mechanical properties of
composite beams depend upon the properties of fiber and matrix. It is also true that the fiber orientation and aspect
ratio affects the mechanical properties like strength and rigidity of the material which in turn affects the natural
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IJARSE, Vol. No.3, Issue No.12, December 2014 ISSN-2319-8354(E)
frequency for same geometry and boundary condition. In this work effect of fiber volume fraction on elastic ratios
and natural frequencies are studied. It has been found out that with change in fiber volume fraction there is change in
natural frequency. It may be concluded that the choice of fiber volume fraction should be within 0.4 to 0.55 with
0.45 volume fraction having optimum result. Here Composite beams with ± (0˚-0˚-0˚) orientation is found to have
highest value of natural frequency and ± (15˚-30˚-45˚) have lowest value of natural frequency for all of the
configurations and boundary conditions as same as from the previous study [16, 17,18]. In future further study will
be carried out in this field.

REFERENCES

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