Study of damping in composite beams

What is it about?

In the current investigation, damping of structural composite beams has been studied to estimate the damping ratios and natural frequencies. The various composite beams used are Glass Fibre Reinforced Epoxy (GFE), Glass Fibre Reinforced Polyester (GFP) and Carbon Black Filled Epoxy (CBFE). Logarithmic decrement method is used to evaluate the damping parameters from the obtained amplitude versus time plots. The damping ratio and natural frequency values are found to be 0.2281 and 1664.94 rad/s respectively for CBFE. CBFE has highest damping property as compared to GFE and GFP.

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Why is it important?

The vibrations produced in the structures or components are the primary source of problems in machine tools, aircraft and automobile structures. Vibrations can be overcome by introducing damping in these structures. A recent method to improve the damping ability of structures is by fabricating these with composites in order to enhance their service life. In addition, composites are found to have superior strength, stiffness, improved corrosion and fatigue resistance.. The damping of FR composites depends on the structure, diameter and orientation of fiber in matrix. Damping at the fiber-matrix interface dissipates a significant amount of energy.