Free Vibration of Laminated Orthotropic Cylindrical Shells

Vibration characteristics of thin laminated orthotropic cylindrical shells are investigated. The theory, based on the Kirchhoffean hypothesis regarding deformation, can accommodate shells composed of an arbitrary number of bonded layers, each with a different thickness and different elastic orthotropic properties. Donnell‐type equations expressed in terms of the reference surface displacements are employed, and the effects of initial extensional forces in the shell are included. The frequency equation for a simply supported cylinder is derived. Next, an iterative procedure for determining the natural frequencies of a shell under an arbitrary set of homogeneous boundary conditions is described in detail. Specialization of present results to laminated orthotropic plates is indicated.