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DOI: 10.1177/0731684411431122
2012 31: 55 originally published online 5 December 2011 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites
Rassoul Tabassian and Jalil Rezaeepazhand
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Stability of smart sandwich beams with cross-ply faces and electrorheological core subjected to axial

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Article
Stability of smart sandwich beams with
cross-ply faces and electrorheological core
subjected to axial loads
Rassoul Tabassian and Jalil Rezaeepazhand
Abstract
In this article, an effort has been made to deal with stability analysis of a smart sandwich beam with cross-ply faces and ER
core. An ER layer is adhered to the laminated composite beam to increase dynamic stability of the beam. Binghams
model is applied to model dynamic behavior of ER layer. A smart beam element is derived for the sandwich beam and
finite element modeling is carried out. Transient response of the beam to an initial excitation is calculated using direct
integration method. By analyzing the dynamic responses of the beam in different load amplitudes, critical loads and
stability regions are obtained. Parametric study has been done and effects of various parameters such as the electric field,
stacking sequence of the layers, and thickness ratio of elastic faces on static and dynamic stability of the beam are
investigated. Obtained results show that stacking sequence and thickness ratio of elastic faces affects both static and
dynamic stability of the beam. On the other hand, ER layer affects damping properties of structures as a result of which
only dynamic stability of the beam is improved.
Keywords
smart sandwich beams, ER fluids, cross-ply, dynamic stability
Introduction
In new industrial applications, there are some struc-
tures that are subjected to axial compressive loads.
Design of structures is usually accomplished based on
strength and stiness considerations. However, the
main issue that axially loaded structures have to deal
with is buckling because the structure may become
unstable long before the strength and stiness criteria
are violated. The problem becomes more complicated
when the axial load is a dynamic one such as harmonic
loads. In such cases, the frequency of the load could be
ecient as much as load amplitude in making the struc-
ture unstable because of resonance instability. A great
deal of eorts has been made to improve mechanical
properties of structures by modifying the shapes and
materials. Composites are a class of materials which
have been widely used in recent decades because of
their anisotropic mechanical properties and high ratio
of strength to weight. These characteristics let designers
to reach their favorite stiness and strength in any
direction of the structure. On the other hand,
anisotropic properties of composites make their analy-
sis complicated and dicult. However, owing to valu-
able characteristics of composite structures, use of this
class of materials in a variety of application developed
rapidly and many researchers focused on buckling,
vibration, and aeroelastic stability of composite struc-
tures. Kameswara et al.
1
proposed an analytical
method for evaluating the natural frequencies of lami-
nated sandwich beams using higher order mixed theory.
Goyal and Kapania
2
investigated dynamic stability of
laminated beams subjected to non-conservative loads.
Subramanian
3
used higher order theories and nite
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad,
Mashhad, Iran.
Corresponding author:
Jalil Rezaeepazhand, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ferdowsi
University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
Email: jrezaeep@ferdowsi.um.ac.ir
Journal of Reinforced Plastics
and Composites
31(1) 5564
! The Author(s) 2011
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DOI: 10.1177/0731684411431122
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elements to analyze the dynamic behavior of laminated
composite beams.
In this study to improve dynamic stability of struc-
ture, an electrorheological (ER) layer is adhered to
composite beam using a constraining layer. ER uids
are a type of suspension whose properties change when
subjected to an electric eld. When an electric eld is
applied to ER uid, its apparent viscosity reversibly
changes in a time scale of milliseconds. Numerous
experimental studies have been done to investigate
mechanical characteristics of ER uids. Wahed et al.
4
studied rheological characteristics of ER uids in time-
dependent loading. Park et al.
5
investigated material
characteristics of an ER uid subjected to an electric
eld and temperature. Investigations on ER uid prop-
erties led to various mathematical models, which
express dynamic behavior of ER uids in both pre-
yield and post-yield stages.
6,7
Valuable properties of
this class of smart materials have drawn attentions to
employ ER uids in active control of vibrating systems.
Rezaeepazhan and Pahlavan
8
used an ER damper to
control transverse vibrations of the cantilever beam.
They also used ER uid as a core of sandwich beams
and studied inuence of this layer on transient response
of the beam.
9
They used Binghams model for describ-
ing the post-yield behavior of ER uids. Yeh and
Chen
10,11
studied dynamic stability of isotropic and
orthotropic sandwich plates with ER core. They used
Kevins model to describe the viscoelastic behavior of
core layer. Narayana and Ganesan
12
have compared
the viscoelastic damping and ER uid core damping
in composite sandwich skew plates. Phani and
Venkatraman
13
investigated vibrations of sandwich
beams with ER core experimentally.
In the present study, nite element is employed to
investigate stability of a laminated sandwich beam. In
order to improve the dynamic stability of the beam, an
ER layer is applied. In contrast to most of the previous
studies in which Kevins model has been used, in this
study Binghams model is applied to describe the
dynamic behavior of ER uid. Direct integration
method is employed to obtain the transient response
of the beam. By analyzing the transient responses of
the beam in dierent load amplitudes, dynamic critical
loads are obtained.
Problem formulation and solution method
To analyze the dynamic behavior of sandwich beams
with cross-ply faces and ER core, the beam shown in
Figure 1 is considered. In this beam, the ER core is
constrained by two cross-ply laminated elastic faces.
As mentioned before, electric eld changes the ER
uid from a Newtonian uid to a uid in which polar-
ized particles are aligned in chains. Therefore, the uid
resists against shear forces more rmly. Based on
Binghams model, the shear stress in ER layer is dened
in terms of shear rate ( _ ,) and electric eld (E).
8
t j _ , oE
[
1
Here o and [ are inherent properties of ER uid,
which are usually determined by experiment and j is
the viscosity.
For each cross-ply face, the relations between defor-
mations and applied forces and moments are expressed
as follows:
N
M
!

A B
B D
!
c

k
!
2
In which, N N
x
N
y
N
xy

T
, M M
x
M
y
M
xy

T
, c

x
c

y
,

xy

T
, k k
x
k
y
k
xy

T
and A, B and D are 33 stiness matrices of the lam-
inate whose component are dened as:
A
ij

X
n
k1

"
Q
ij

k
h
k
h
k1
3
B
ij

1
2
X
n
k1

"
Q
ij

k
h
2
k
h
2
k1
4
D
ij

1
3
X
n
k1

"
Q
ij

k
h
3
k
h
3
k1
5
Where, h
k
is the height of the top plane of k-th layer
form the mid-plane of the laminated face and
"
Q
ij
are
components of the transformed reduced stiness
matrix.
ER Core
Laminated Faces
h
3
h
2
h
1
Figure 1. Sandwich beam with ER core and laminated faces.
56 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 31(1)
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To apply the nite element method, the sandwich
beam element shown in Figure 2 is considered.
In this element u
1
and u
3
are longitudinal displace-
ments of layers 1 and 3 in each node, w is the transverse
displacement and is the angular rotation in each node.
Displacement vector of the element is written as:
U
u
1
u
3
w
8
<
:
9
=
;
Nx fqtg 6
Where
And Xx/l where l is the length of the element
Total energy of an element would be TV+W
in which T represents the kinetic energy of the element,
V represents potential energy of the element, and W
denotes the work done by external forces. Euler
Bernoulli beam assumption is considered for elastic
faces. The strain energy of elastic layers is obtained as:
V
i

1
2
Z
v
c
T
i
o
i
dv
1
2
b
Z
l
c

i
k
!
T
A
i
B
i
B
i
D
i
!
c

i
k
!
dx
V
i

1
2
b
Z
l
fc

i
g
T
A
i
fc

i
g fc

i
g
T
B
i
fk
i
g fk
i
g
T
B
i
fc

i
g
fk
i
g
T
D
i
fk
i
gdx i 1, 3
V
i

1
2
b
Z
l
0
q
T
R
i

T
A
i
R
i
fqg fqg
T
R
i

T
B
i
Sfqg
fqg
T
S
T
B
i
R
i
fqg
fqg
T
S
T
D
i
Sfqgdx i 1, 3
8
Matrices [R
1
], [R
3
], and [S] are presented in the
Appendix. In order to obtain the energy lost in core
layer, the shear deformation of core layer is needed
which is:
,
2

ow
ox

ou
2
oz
9
u
2
is the longitudinal displacement of the core layer and
could be written in terms of u
1
and u
3
.
8
Consequently,
shear deformation of the core layer is obtained as:
,
2

h
1
2h
2
h
3
2h
2

ow
ox

u
1
u
3
h
2
10
Hence, the energy dissipated by ER core based on
Binghams model is achieved.
E
er

Z
v
,
2

T
j _ ,
2

dv
Z
v
,
2

T
oE
[
dv

Z
v
q

T
D
2

T
j D
2
_ q

dv
Z
v
q

T
D
2

T
oE
[
dv
11
Matrix [D
2
] is expressed in the Appendix. Neglecting
rotary inertia of elastic layers, the kinetic energy of the
elastic layers, due to their longitudinal and transverse
displacements is obtained.
T
i

1
2
Z
v
_ q

T
Q
i

T
,
i
Q
i
_ q

dv i 1, 3 12
Similarly, kinetic energy of the core layer could be
express as:
T
2

1
2
Z
v
_ q

T
D
2

T
J
2
D
2
_ q

dv

1
2
Z
v
_ q

T
Q
2

T
,
2
Q
2
_ q

dv
13
Where, J
2
denotes the mass moment of inertia of
core layer and [Q
1
], [Q
2
], and [Q
3
] are dened in
appendix.
i
u
3
i
u
1
j
u
3
j
u
1
i
w
j
w
i

Figure 2. A beam element with two nodes and 4DOF per

node.
q

u
i1
u
i3
w
i

i
u
j1
u
j3
w
j

j

T
N
1 X 0 0 0 X 0 0 0
0 1 X 0 0 0 X 0 0
0 0 2X
3
3X
2
1 X
3
2X
2
X,l 0 0 2X
3
3X
2
X
3
X
2
,l
2
6
4
3
7
5
7
Tabassian and Rezaeepazhand 57
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This beam is subjected to the axial load P(t). The
work done by this load can be written as:
W
1
2
Z
l
Pt
ow
ox

2
dx
1
2
Z
l
q

T
H
T
Pt H q

dx
14
Matrix [H] is presented in the Appendix. Finally,
work of other external forces (f
ex
) is obtained as:
W
X
fUg
T
ff
ex
g
X
fqg
T
N
T
ff
ex
g 15
Substituting T, V, and W into relation of total
energy and applying Hamiltons principle leads to gov-
erning equation of motion of the element.
M q

C _ q

K
e
Pt K
G


q

F
ER
f g F
ex
f g
16
Where, [M], [C], [K
e
], and [K
G
] are the element mass
matrix, damping matrix, element stiness matrix, and
geometric stiness matrix, respectively. Vector {F
ER
}
contains eects of electric eld and {F
ex
} is generated
by external forces.
Direct integration method is employed to solve
Equation (16). Direct integration or explicit integration
method is known as an eective general algorithm for
solving dynamic problems. In this method, the total
solution time is divided into several intervals and the
solution is done step by step. In each step, the values of
displacement, velocity and acceleration are calculated
in terms of their values in pervious steps.
9
By applying
this method to Equation (16) a recursive formula is
obtained where vector {q} is calculated based on its
values in the steps before.
q

i1

1
t
2
M
1
2t
C
!
1
F
EX
f g
i
K
e
Pt K
G

2
t
2
M

q

i

1
t
2
M
1
2t
C

q

i1
!
17
Here, {F
EX
} is the vector which contains eects of
{F
ER
} and {F
ex
}. Equation (17) is a two-step recursive
equation and each step requires values of vector {q} in
two previous steps. A problem could occur in the rst
step because in this step {q}
i1
is required. To deal with
this problem, the displacement vector in the step-1 can
be estimated using initial conditions.
9
q

1
q

0
t _ q

0

1
2
t
2
q

0
18
By employing Equation (17) transient response of
the beam for dierent applied load is obtained. If the
values of maximum deections are plotted versus load
amplitudes, a diagram similar to Figure 3 will be
achieved. As observed in this gure the maximum
transverse displacement increases by increasing the
dynamic load amplitude. However, the slope of the
maximum transverse displacement curve is not con-
stant. For small amplitude of dynamic load, maximum
displacement increases gradually, but after a specic
point, maximum displacement increases rapidly by a
small increment in dynamic load amplitude. This con-
dition displays a critical state that has occurred in the
response of the beam. The critical load (P
cr
) could be
estimated by nding the junction of asymptotic of the
displacement curve and the load axis.
14
Results and discussion
To evaluate presented nite element model and solution
method, results are compared with the reported results
of other researchers. Owing to lack of published works
on stability analysis of sandwich structures with ER
core and laminated faces, the nite element models of
sandwich beam and dynamic stability of laminated
beam are evaluated separately. For assuring the preci-
sion of the present nite element model for three lay-
ered sandwich beam with ER core, results of this model
are compared with the work done by Rezaeepazhand
and Pahlavan.
9
They presented the natural frequencies
of a clampedclamped sandwich beam with ER core in
their study. Table 1 contains results of this investigation
and reports by Rezaeepazhand and Pahlavan
9
for the
rst six natural frequencies. Results of Table 1 show
acceptable accuracy for the present nite element
modeling.
P
max W
cr
P
Figure 3. Diagram of maximum transverse displacement vs. the
dynamic load amplitude.
58 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 31(1)
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In order to evaluate method of nding critical load
and nite element modeling done for cross-ply faces,
the rst instability boundary obtained by this method
is compared with results of Chen et al.
15
They have
studied dynamic stability of simply supported compos-
ite beams containing piezoelectric layers. The beam is
subjected to a harmonic load (PP
1
cos vt). In Figure
4 the rst instability boundary of the beam is inspected.
In this gure, P
1cr
represents critical amplitude of har-
monic load, P* is static critical load, v is frequency of
harmonic load, and o
n
denotes the natural frequency of
the beam. As observed in Figure 4, appropriate conver-
gence is achieved between results and it could be
concluded that presented method of nding critical
load and corresponding stability boundary is accurate.
In order to accomplish a parametric study and inves-
tigate eects of various parameters a clampedfree
beam with cross-ply faces and ER core is considered.
The ER core consists of Arabic gum particles as dis-
persed phase suspending in the transformer oil as the
base uid. o36.81 and [1.52 are required coe-
cients of the Binghams model.
16
The density and vis-
cosity of uid are 1180 kg/m
3
and 10 cSt, respectively.
Elastic faces are 24 layers cross-ply laminates in which
thickness of each layer is equal 0.15 mm. In this inves-
tigation, the S-Glass/Epoxy composite is considered for
which physical and mechanical properties are presented
in Table 2. Length and width of the beam are taken to
be 600 and 30 mm, respectively. To demonstrate the
eect of dierent parameters, the non-dimensional
static critical load (z
S
) and dynamic critical load (z
D
)
are dened as follows:
z
S

P L
2
E
L
I
e
19
z
D

P
1cr
L
2
E
L
I
e
20
Where, P
1cr
represents dynamic critical load, L is the
length and E
L
is the longitudinal elastic modulus of the
lamina. The non-dimensional natural (
n
) and load (r)
frequencies are expressed as follows:

n
o
n
L
2

,A
E
L
I
e
r
21
r
v
2o
n
22
Where, o
n
denotes the natural frequency of the beam
and v represents the frequency of the applied harmonic
load. Also in Equations (19) to (21) I
e
bh
3
/12 and
Abh in which b is the width of the beam and h is
the total thickness of two cross-ply faces (h h
1
+h
3
).
As explained before, an ER layer is adhered to
improve dynamic stability of the beam. Therefore,
characteristic of this layer could aect stability regions
and change instability boundaries. ER layer does not
change natural frequencies of the beam because eects
of this layer mostly appear in damping properties of the
system. Hence, this layer does not have notable inu-
ence on static critical load while dramatically aects
dynamic stability of the beam. Figure 5 shows the
rst instability boundary for three dierent intensities
of applied electric eld. When the intensity of applied
electric eld increases, based on Binghams relation,
greater shear forces in ER layer are produced and
Table 1. Comparison of first six natural frequencies for the
clampedclamped sandwich beam with ER core
Mode number Present FEM Ref [9]
1 4.597776 4.6
2 12.67681 12.67
3 24.86966 24.58
4 41.17871 41.07
5 61.70294 61.35
6 86.60766 85.69
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.4
0.45
0.5
1.7 1.8 1.9 2 2.1 2.2 2.3
P
1
c
r
/
P
*
v/
n
Presented study
Reference [15]
Stable
Stable
Unstable
Figure 4. Comparison of obtained results for the first insta-
bility boundary of the beam.
Table 2. Physical and mechanical properties of S-Glass/Epoxy
Physical and mechanical properties S-Glass/Epoxy
Density (,) 2000 kg/m
3
Longitudinal modulus (E
L
) 43 GPa
Transverse modulus (E
T
) 8.9 GPa
In-plane shear modulus (G
LT
) 4.5 GPa
Major Poissons ratio (v
LT
) 0.27
Minor Poissons ratio (v
LT
) 0.06
Tabassian and Rezaeepazhand 59
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more energy would be lost in the core layer.
Consequently, beam is laid in more stable status. This
eect could be clearly observed in Figure 5. By increas-
ing the intensity of electric eld, minimum point of
instability boundary has moved upward and stability
region of the beam has increased.
In Figure 6 eects of thickness of the ER layer are
presented. As shown in Figure 6, by increasing the
thickness of ER layer, minimum point of instability
boundary moves upward and increases stability of the
beam. However, this eect is not as ecient of intensity
of electric eld.
Another parameter which is investigated here is the
width of applied electric eld. To study eects of this
parameter it is assumed that the width of electrodes (b
e
)
which generate electric eld is changed. Consequently,
width of the core layer and as a result equivalent mass
of the system is kept constant while the width of applied
electric eld is changed. Figure 7 displays eects of this
parameter. Similar to previous cases, in this case also
observed that by increasing the width of the applied
electric eld, minimum point of instability boundary
moves upward and the stability region of the beam
increases.
As explained before elastic faces are cross-ply lami-
nates, which consist of 24 layers. Total thickness of top
and bottom elastic face is 3.6 mm. Since stacking
sequence of laminates dramatically aects stiness of
the beam, in this part inuence of the stacking sequence
of the laminate on static and dynamic stability of the
beam is investigated. Number of 0

layers is the rst

parameter investigated here. It is clear that stiness of
0

layers is more than 90

layers in the axial direction of

the beam. Therefore, by increasing the number of 0

layers in elastic faces, total stiness of the beam

increases. This fact is obviously conrmed by results
shown in Figure 8. These gure is plotted for sacking
sequence of each face [90
12n
/0
n
]
S
(n 0, 2, . . . , 12) such
that n denotes half of the number of 0

layers in each
faces. As illustrated in Figure 8, increasing the number
of 0

layers leads to increase the natural frequencies and

static critical load of the beam. Based on displayed
results in Figure 8, it could be inferred that increasing
the number of 0

layers increases equivalent stiness of

the beam because the equivalent mass of the system is
remained constant while natural frequencies have
increased. Since this parameter changes stiness of
the beam, as it is expected, it aects the dynamic sta-
bility of the structure in the same way. Figure 9 illus-
trates the eect of the number of 0

layers on the
dynamic stability of the beam. In this gure rst insta-
bility boundary for three cases [90
9
/0
3
]
S
, [90
6
/0
6
]
S
, and
[90
3
/0
9
]
S
is displayed. According to Figure 9, increasing
the number of 0

layers leads to a dramatic change of

instability boundary such that this boundary moves
upward and the stability region of the beam increases.
Eect of distance of 0

layers from the mid-plain of

each elastic face is also studied. Since 0

layers are
stier than 90

layers in axial direction of the beam,

by moving 0

layers from the mid-plain of the laminate

toward surface, a stier beam is achieved. As shown in
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1 1.05 1.1 1.15

D
r
E= 0 kV/mm
E= 1 kV/mm
E= 2 kV/mm
Figure 5. Effects of intensity of applied electric field on the first
stability region of the beam [(90
6
/0
6
)
s
/ER/(90
6
/0
6
)
s
].
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1

D
r
h2/h1= 0.28
h2/h1= 0.55
h2/h1= 0.83
0.8 0.85 0.9 0.9 1.05 1.1 1.15 5 1
Figure 6. Effects of thickness of ER layer on the first stability
region of the beam [(90
6
/0
6
)
s
/ER/(90
6
/0
6
)
s
].
0
0.03
0.06
0.09
0.12
0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1 1.05 1.1 1.15

D
r
be/b=1/3
be/b=2/3
be/b=1
Figure 7. Effects of width of applied electric field on the first
stability region of the beam [(90
6
/0
6
)
s
/ER/(90
6
/0
6
)
s
].
60 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 31(1)
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Figure 10, natural frequencies and static critical load of
the beam increase by moving 0

layers toward the sur-

face which increases the stiness of the structure.
Whereas this parameter aects stiness, it is also
expected to inuence the static and dynamic stability
of the beam in the same way.
Figure 11 illustrates eects of this parameter on
dynamic stability of the beam. Results have been
obtained for three cases [90
6
/0
6
]
S
, [90
3
/0
6
/90
3
]
S
, and
[0
6
/90
6
]
S
. As shown in Figure 11 by increasing the dis-
tance of 0

layers from the mid-plain of elastic faces,

instability boundary moves upward and dynamic sta-
bility of the beam increases. In this case, because of
increasing the axial stiness of the beam static and
dynamic stabilities of the beam are increased.
Figures 12 and 13 illustrate eects of the sequence of
the 90

layers. In these gures stacking sequence

[90
6/n
/0
6/n
]
ns
(n 1, 2, 3, 6) is considered for elastic
faces. Results of Figure 12 are obtained for four
cases. In the rst case, all 0

layers are concentrated

in the middle of each face. However in the next cases,
0

layers are distributed among 90

layers gradually.
During this trend, it could be observed that natural
frequency of the beam increases which means stiness
has increased. Moving 0

layers from the mid-plain

through the surface actually makes this happen.
Similar trend is observed for static critical load. As
shown in Figure 12 by distributing 0

layers among
90

layers, static critical load is increased. Eect of

cross ply sub-laminate on dynamic stability of the
beam is illustrated in Figure 13. This gure is plotted
for three stacking sequences of the elastic faces, [90
6
/
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
N
a
t
u
r
a
l

F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y

P
a
r
a
m
e
t
e
r

(

)
First Natural Frequency
Static Critical Load
S
t
a
t
i
c

C
r
i
t
i
c
a
l

L
o
a
d

(

s
)
Figure 8. Effects of number of 0

layers on natural frequency

and static critical load of the beam [(90
12n
/0
n
)
S
/ER/(90
12n
/0
n
)
S
].
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
N
a
t
u
r
a
l

F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y

P
a
r
a
m
e
t
e
r

(

)
First Natural Frequency
Static Critical Load
S
t
a
t
i
c

C
r
i
t
i
c
a
l

L
o
a
d

(

s
)
Figure 10. Effects of distance of 0

layers form the mid-plain of each face on natural frequency and static critical load of the beam
[(90
6n
/0
6
/90
n
)
S
/ER/(90
6n
/0
6
/90
n
)
S
].
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1 1.05 1.1 1.15

D
r
n=3
n=6
n=9
Figure 9. Effects of the number of 0

layers on the first stability

region of the beam [(90
12n
/0
n
)
S
/ER/(90
12n
/0
n
)
S
].
Tabassian and Rezaeepazhand 61
by guest on November 10, 2012 jrp.sagepub.com Downloaded from
0
6
]
1S
, [90
3
/0
3
]
2S
, and [90
2
/0
2
]
3S
. According to Figure 13,
distributing 0

layers among 90

layers increases the

stability region of the structure and consequently
beam could resist against harmonic axial loads more
rmly.
The last parameter of the sandwich beam which
studied in this part is the thickness ratio of elastic
faces. To investigate the inuence of this parameter,
total number of layers in both faces is kept constant
while some layers of top face are moved to the bottom
face. This way, total mass and thickness of the beam
would be kept constant and eects of the thickness
ratio of the sandwich beam on stiness and stability
of the beam could be inspected directly. Based on
results of Figure 14, it could be concluded that by
increasing the thickness ratio of elastic layers, total sti-
ness of the beam increases due to increase of the natural
frequencies. As displayed in Figure 14 same trend is
observed for static stability of the beam such that by
increasing the thickness ratio of the elastic layer, static
critical loads have been increased. Figure 15 shows
eects of this parameter on dynamic stability of the
beam. These results are plotted for three thickness
ratios 1, 2, and 5. Figure 15 indicates that increasing
thickness ratio of the base layer to the constraining
layer in the sandwich beams causes instability bound-
aries to move upward. This means stability regions of
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.4
0.45
0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1 1.05 1.1 1.15

D
r
n=0
n=3
n=6
Figure 11. Effects of distance of 0

layers form the mid-plain of

each face for the stacking sequence [90
6n
/0
6
/90
n
]
S
on the first
stability region of the beam.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
0 1 2 3 4 5
S
t
a
t
i
c

C
r
i
t
i
c
a
l

L
o
a
d

(

s
)
N
a
t
u
r
a
l

F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y

P
a
r
a
m
e
t
e
r

(

)
n
Natural Frequency (90/...)
Natural Frequency (0/ )
Static Critical Load (90/)
Static Critical Load (0/ )
Figure 12. Effects of distribution of 0

layers on natural fre-

quency and static critical load of the beam ([90
6/n
/0
6/n
]
nS
and
[0
6/n
/90
6/n
]
nS
, n 1, 2, 3, 4).
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1 1.05 1.1 1.15

D
r
n=3
n=2
n=1
Figure 13. Effects of distribution of 0

layers on the first sta-

bility region of the beam ([90
6/n
/0
6/n
]
nS
, n 1, 2, 3).
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
N
a
t
u
r
a
l

F
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y

P
a
r
a
m
e
t
e
r

(

)
First Natural Frequency
Static Critical Load
S
t
a
t
i
c

C
r
i
t
i
c
a
l

L
o
a
d

(

s
)
Figure 14. Effects of the thickness ratio of the cross-ply faces
on natural frequency and static critical load of the beam.
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.8 0.85 0.9 0.95 1 1.05 1.1 1.15

D
r
h1/h3=1
h1/h3=2
h1/h3=5
Figure 15. Effects of the thickness ratio of the cross-ply faces
on the first stability region of the beam.
62 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 31(1)
by guest on November 10, 2012 jrp.sagepub.com Downloaded from
the beam have increased due to increase of total sti-
ness of the beam.
Conclusion
In this study, stability analysis of a sandwich beam
subjected to axial loads was carried out. The beam con-
sisted of two cross-ply elastic faces, which constrain an
ER core. A smart beam element was employed to
model dynamic response of the beam. Transient
response of the beam was calculated using direct inte-
gration method, and critical axial loads were calculated
based on response of the beam in dierent load ampli-
tudes. According to the results of this study, it could be
concluded that ER layer improves damping properties
of structure and consequently enhance dynamic stabil-
ity of the beam. On the other hand, stacking sequence
of the cross-ply faces aect equivalent stiness of struc-
ture and as a result inuences both static and dynamic
critical loads of the beam. Moreover, by moving 0

layers toward the surfaces of the cross-ply faces, sti-

ness of the beam increases and beam could resist
against axial loads more rmly. Increasing the
number of 0

layers and also increasing the thickness

ratio of base layer to constraining layer have similar
eect and increases the stability of the beam.
Funding
This research received no specic grant from any funding
agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-prot sectors.
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Appendix
R
1

o,ox 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
2
6
4
3
7
5 N ,
R
3

0 o,ox 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
2
6
4
3
7
5 N ,
S
0 0 o
2

ox
2
0 0 0
0 0 0
2
6
4
3
7
5 N
D
2

1
2h
2
2 2 h
1
2h
2
h
3

o
ox

N
Q
1

1 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 1
2
6
4
3
7
5 N , Q
2

0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 1
2
6
4
3
7
5 N ,
Q
3

0 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 1
2
6
4
3
7
5 N
H
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 o,ox
2
6
4
3
7
5 N
Tabassian and Rezaeepazhand 63
by guest on November 10, 2012 jrp.sagepub.com Downloaded from
M
Z
v
R
1

T
,
1
R
1
dv
Z
v
R
3

T
,
3
R
3
dv

Z
v
R
2

T
,
2
R
2
dv
Z
v
D
2

T
J
2
D
2
dv
C
Z
v
D
2

T
j D
2
dv
K
e
b
Z
l
R
1

T
A
1
R
1
2R
1

T
B
3
S
S
T
D
1
Sdx b
Z
l
R
3

T
A
3
R
3

2R
3

T
B
3
S S
T
D
3
Sdx
K
G

1
2
Z
l
N
T
H
T
Pt H N dx
F
ER
f g sgn _ ,.
Z
v
D
2

T
t
E
Edv
F
ex
f g
X
N
T
ff
ex
g
64 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 31(1)
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