Free vibration of a partially fluid-filled cross-ply laminated composite circular cylindrical shell

Abstract

Free vibration of a partially fluid-filled cross-ply laminated composite circular cylindrical shell is investigated using a semi-analytical procedure based on the Reissner–Mindlin theory and compressible fluid equations. The shell is modeled using unaxisymmetric shear deformable circular cylindrical shell elements. The fluid is modeled using column fluid elements. The equation of motion of the partially fluid-filled shell is derived using the Hamilton’s variational principle. Numerical examples are given for free vibrations of partially fluid-filled orthotropic and cross-ply laminated composite circular cylindrical shells with various boundary conditions. Numerical results indicate that the fluid filling can reduce significantly the natural frequencies of orthotropic and cross-ply laminated composite circular cylindrical shells.