JOURNAL OF

COMPOSITE
M AT E R I A L S

Article

The effect of layup and boundary

conditions on the modal damping
of FRP composite panels

Journal of Composite Materials

0(0) 112
! The Author(s) 2010
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DOI: 10.1177/0021998310382314
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M.R. Maheri

Abstract
The degree of the modal damping in a fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) composite panel depends on a number of factors
including the nature of the layup, the modal deformation, the geometry and the boundary conditions of the panel. In this
article, using the theoretical predictions of modal response of a square layered FRP panel, the variation of damping with
the plate layup under a combination of clamped and free boundary conditions is studied. Particular attention is paid to
the variation of modal damping with the fiber orientation of the two outmost layers of the panel with a view to possibly
manipulation of this orientation in order to maximisze the modal damping.

Keywords
FRP composite, laminated plate, modal damping, layup, mode shape, boundary conditions

Introduction
While in vehicular structures made of conventional
materials much of the damping comes from the joints
or, otherwise, from the so-called added damping, structures made from polymer-based structural composites
have an inherent damping capacity that can far surpass
the damping in the conventional materials. This is an
important factor in the choice of materials especially in
weight sensitive aerospace vehicular structures.
However, there is a trade-o between the damping
and stiness in these materials.
How fast free vibration will diminish or by how
much forced vibration will fall due to damping, will
depend not on the amount of cyclic energy loss alone,
but rather on what proportion of the total elastic
energy this cyclic loss constitutes. For the same
energy loss per cycle of vibration, or the damping
energy, therefore, a stier material will exhibit less
damping eect than a less sti material. It is for that
reason that such dimensionless damping measurement
quantities as the loss factor, logarithmic decrement, or
the specic damping capacity (SDC) are frequently
used as a measure of vibration damping.
Unlike the isotropic materials in which the damping
energy is invariant of direction, in orthotropic materials, such as ber-reinforced plastic (FRP) composites,
stiness, and damping change with direction. In order

to estimate the damping energy in a multilayered FRP

composite in which each layer consists of unidirectional
continuous bers, Adams and Bacon1 postulated that
the damping energy is the sum of separable energy components generated by the principal stress components
which are prevalent in the material. Thus, for the unidirectional layer in a state of plane stress, the damping
energy would be attributable to the three principal
stress components along the bers, across the bers
and in longitudinal shear. This damping model has
been shown to be valid by a number of research
works.210 Using the same damping model, Ni and
Adams2 considered the variation of stiness and damping in freefree symmetric beams with the lay of the
bers in the two outmost plies, and showed that a
good correlation existed between the theoretical and
experimental values. Saravanos and Chamis9 outlined
a computational methodology for optimizing damping
in composite structures with respect to the ber volume
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Shahid
Bahonar University of Kerman, Jomhouri Boulevard, Kerman, Iran.
Corresponding author:
M.R. Maheri, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of
Engineering, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Jomhouri Boulevard,
Kerman, Iran
Email: MRMaheri@bristolalumni.org.uk

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Journal of Composite Materials 0(0)

ratio and ply angle as design variables. The same criterion has also been used successfully in the modal analysis of damped FRP laminates using discretization
methods.3,5,7,11 Considering FRP plates with generally
free boundary conditions, these latter works have also
shown good correlation between the theoretical and
experimental modal results, including modal damping,
although, Maheri et al.8 reported that in the case of
lightweight sandwich panels, good correlation in damping results existed only when the panels were tested
in vacuo, as lightweight sandwich panels can experience
considerable air-damping which would otherwise predominate the inherent damping of the material.
The signicance of the freefree boundary conditions lies in the fact that this particular set of boundary
conditions is readily realized and, therefore, is more
conducive to producing a higher degree of correlation
between the experimental and theoretical modal
response than other boundary conditions. Especially,
when it comes to measurement of damping, the kind
of extraneous damping which is attributable to the
nature of the boundary condition in both simply supported as well as the clamped case is absent from the
freefree boundary conditions. For that reason, most of
the damping tests that are carried out on freefree beam
and plate samples are primarily for quantitative purposes and in order to measure the inherent material
damping.
Similarly, the signicance of the simply supported
boundary conditions lies in the fact that exact solution
of the plate modal vibration is possible only for the
simply supported case. For other boundary conditions,
normally approximation methods, such as the nite element method or the method of RayleighRitz are
used.12
Real panels used in practice, however, are neither
freefree nor simply supported. Rather, practical
panels usually have a combination of clamped, free,
and hinged boundary conditions. However, unlike the
free boundary condition, the amount of extraneous
damping in other boundary conditions, especially the
clamped case, is rather subjective and depends on the
actual nature of the boundary condition under consideration. It should not, therefore, be too surprising if
large and inconsistent discrepancies are experienced
between the experimental and the theoretical damping
values when any one of the plate edges is under any
other condition than free.
Because the stiness and damping are related to each
other, it is possible to manipulate the stiness in order
to strike a desired balance between the two. However,
such manipulations are more eective at the outer
layers since these have a higher weighting factor in
bending. The aim of this study is to investigate the variation of modal damping with respect to such variables

as the laminate layup, mode shapes, and boundary conditions with a view to assess the degree to which this
interdependence can be manipulated in order to maximize the modal damping of the panel.

Theory
In this section, an analytical method through which the
modal characteristics of a symmetric FRP plate, including the frequency, mode shape, and damping may be
obtained is outlined.
The preferable measure of damping in hard, structural materials, such as FRP composites is usually the
SDC, , which is dened as the ratio of the energy loss
per cycle of vibration U to the maximum strain
energy in the cycle U, thus:


U
U

By denition, SDC is independent of the strain rate

and, therefore, of the frequency. For pure exure of a
two dimensional, mid-plane symmetric plate in the x, y
coordinates, the two energy quantities in Equation (1)
are given as follows:7
Z (

 2 2
 2 2
@ w
@2 w @2 w
@ w

2D

D
12
22
2
2
2
@x
@x @y
@y2

 2 2 )
@2 w @2 w
@2 w @2 w
@ w
4D26 2
4D66
4D16 2
d
@x @x@y
@y @x@y
@x@y

1
U
2

D11

2
and
1
U
2

 2 2
Z (  2 2
@ w
@2 w @2 w
@ w
d11
d12 d21 2 2 d22
2
@x
@x
@y
@y2


@2 w @2 w
@2 w @2 w
2d26 d62 2
2
@x @x@y
@y @x@y
 2 2 )
@ w
4d66
d
@x@y

2d16 d61

in which w is the lateral displacement amplitude of the

plate, and Dij and dij the undamped and damped exural stiness matrices, respectively, and  the plate
area. For a laminate of thickness h and made from L
identical laminae, these exural stiness quantities are
given as follows:
  L h i
  2 h 3X


Dij
Q kij k3  k  13 i, j 1, 2, 6
3 L k1

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Maheri

and
  L h i
  2 h 3X


R k k3  k  13 i, j 1, 2, 6
dij
3 L k1 ij
5
where Q kij  and R kij  are, respectively, the undamped
and damped o-axis stiness matrices of the k-th ply
given as follows:
h i
 
Q kij TT Qij T

i
 
R kij TT  Qij T

and
h

in which Qij  is the on-axis stiness matrix of the k-th

ply which is found in terms of the four independent,
orthotropic, elastic properties including the in-plane
moduli E1 and E2 which are measured along and
across the bers, respectively, the longitudinal shear
modulus G12 and the major Poissons ratio t12, thus:
Q11

E21
12 E1 E2
E1 E2
, Q12
, Q22
,
E1  212 E2
E1  212 E2
E1  212 E2

Q66 G12 , Q16 Q26 0,

x-coordinate (Figure 1). The damping matrix  is a

diagonal matrix which, for this present case, is given in
terms of the three in-plane damping quantities 1 along
the bers, 2 acros the bers and 12 in longitudinal
shear, thus:
2
3
4

m2
4
T
n2
2mn

n2
m2
2mn

10

Having dened an appropriate expression for the

lateral deection of the plate, w, the eigenvalue problem
whose solution yields the modal properties of the plate
can be obtained through minimization of the resulting
energy expressions.
Normally, a numerical method is used to arrive at
the energy expressions. It has been shown7,13,14 that the
method of RayleighRitz is advantageous to other
numerical methods, such as the nite element method
for nding the modal characteristics, including damping, of rectangular plates and, for that reason, this
method is utilized in this study. In the RayleighRitz
method,14,15 adequate exibility in the expression for
the plate lateral deection w is assured by employing
a double-summation series of the product of two onedimensional, independent functions of the plate coordinates x and y, thus:
M X
N
X

Amn Xm x Yn y

11

m1 n1

3
mn
mn 5
m2  n2

where m cos  and n sin , and  is the angle

between the lay of the bers in the ply and the plates

y
2
1
a

x
Figure 1. Plate coordinates and lamina orientation.

2
12

wx, y

and

in which Amn are unknown constants and the X and Y

are continuous, dierentiable functions, normally taken
as BernoulliEuler beam functions, that are in conformity with prescribed boundary conditions of the plate.
As BernoulliEuler beam functions, Xm x and Yn y
can be conveniently represented in the following general form:


s r
s r
s r
s r
F1 cos
s  sinh
F2 sin
s r cosh
l
l
l
l
12
where l is the length of the beam and s the sth root of the
beam characteristic equation. The factors F1 and F2
determine the sign of the expression in which they
appear depending on the beam end conditions. For a
freefree beam F1 1 and F2 1, for a clamped
clamped beam and also for a clamped-free beam
F1 1 and F2 1. The characteristic equation can
similarly be represented in the following general form:
cos s cosh s F3 0

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13

Journal of Composite Materials 0(0)

in which for a freefree beam and also for a clamped

clamped beam F3 1 and for a clamped-free beam
F3 1.
Finally, the factor s in Equation (12) is given in the
general form:
s

cosh s F4 cos s
sinh s F4 sin s

14

in which for a freefree beam and also for a clamped

clamped beam F4 1, and for a clamped-free beam
F4 1.
The maximum kinetic energy of the system is given
by:
1
T !2 h
2

w2 d

15

Subsequent to the substitution of the function

w from Equation (11) in the energy expressions (2)
and (15), the rst variation of the Rayleighs quotient
with respect to the coecients Aij will give:
(
Za
Zb
M X
N
X
@
U  T
X00i X00m dx
Yj Yn dy
D11
@Aij
0
0
i1 j1
Za
Zb
Xi Xm dx
Y00j Y00n dy
D22
0
"Z0
Z
a

Xm X00i dx

D12
a

Xi X00m dx

"Z

X00i

0
a

X0i X00m dx

"Z

Xi X0m dx
Z

X0m dx
Z

Yj Y0n dy
#

Yn Y0j dy
Z

b
0

Y0j Y00n dy
#

b
0

Y00j

X0i X0m dx

Y0n dy

Y0j Y0n dy

Xi Xm dx

 ! h

4D66
2

Xm X0i dx

Yn Y00j dy

2D26

2D16
Z

Yj Y00n dy

Yj Yn dy Amn 0
0

m 1, 2, . . . M; n 1, 2, . . . N

16

in which the number of primes indicates the order of

the derivative of the function with respect to its

argument. Equation (16) may be written in the following matrix form:




Kkl   !2 Mkl  fAl g 0

17

in which the matrices [K] and [M] are the stiness and
mass matrices, respectively, {A} the vector of the
unknown coecients, and k i  1N j and
l m  1N n. Equation (17) can be rearranged
into the generalized eigenvalue problem form:
K1 M A , A

18

in which  1=!2 . Solving Equation (18) by an iterative method will yield modal characteristics of the rectangular plate, including the frequencies ! and the
corresponding vector of mode shapes, A.
To obtain the SDC of the plate in each mode, rst
the modal displacements A are substituted in Equation
(11), and the resulting plate lateral displacements w are
then substituted in Equations (2) and (3) before the
SDC is obtained from Equations (1)(3).

Results
Modal results were obtained for a number of commonly used, mid-plane symmetric carbon berreinforced plastic (CFRP) layups. In order to eliminate
the plate aspect ratio from the problem variables, only
square plates have been considered. Specications of
the CFRP plates as well as the constitutive elastic and
damping data needed for plate modal analysis are,
respectively, given in Tables A1 and A2 in Appendix.
The sequence of the layers in the layups listed in
Table A1 is from the mid-plane to the top (or
bottom) layer. It is noted that the constitutive
data given in Table A2 include the moduli and the
damping values along the bers, across the bers and
in longitudinal shear, as well as the Poissons ratio in
each case.
Using the plates data in Tables A1 and A2, and the
plate modal analysis outlined in Theory, the plate
modal results for the rst four modes of vibration (in
ascending frequency) were obtained for dierent combinations of clamped and free boundary conditions.
Referring to the clamped and free edges as C and F,
respectively, and starting from the left hand side of the
plate and progressing in a counter-clockwise direction,
these boundary conditions included CCCC, CCFC,
CFCF, and CFFF. The results, including the frequency, SDC and the mode shape, have been tabulated
in Tables 14. In these tables, the principal plate axes
x and y (Figure 1) are along the horizontal and vertical
directions, respectively.

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Maheri

Table 1. Modal properties of the 45 plate in the first four modes for different boundary conditions
f= 121 (Hz) ; SDC = 1.31%

f= 232 (Hz) ; SDC = 1.44%

f =254 (Hz) ; SDC= 1.27%

f =370 (Hz) ; SDC= 1.31%

f=75 (Hz) ; SDC=1.63%

f = 141 (Hz) ; SDC= 1.22%

f =194 (Hz) ; SDC= 1.69%

f =254 (Hz) ; SDC= 1.37%

f=161 (Hz) ; SDC=1.10%

f = 272 (Hz) ; SDC= 1.30%

f =327 (Hz) ; SDC= 1.08%

f =429 (Hz) ; SDC= 1.37%

f=93 (Hz) ; SDC=1.38%

f= 192 (Hz) ; SDC = 1.53%

f =225 (Hz) ; SDC= 1.13%

f =322 (Hz) ; SDC= 1.29%

Although, the plate modal results presented here are

theoretical predictions, the plates for which these have
been obtained are actual plates which have been produced and tested by the author and co-workers with
freefree boundary conditions in other related works.
Indeed, the results in Table 5 have been reproduced
from one such earlier work7 and they show a comparison between the theoretical and experimental modal
results for one of the present plates, namely the crossply plate, but under the freefree boundary conditions.
Similarly, the constitutive elastic and damping data
given in Table A2 have also been obtained experimentally by dynamic testing of unidirectional beam samples
of the same material (see, for example, Adams and
Maheri4 for a detailed methodology of the dynamic
exural and torsional tests). Deobald and Gibson13 present a method for measuring the constitutive elastic
data not from the frequency of one-dimensional beam
samples as in this case, but rather from a series of the
modal frequencies of a plate sample.
In order to study the degree of the inuence of the
orientation of the two outmost layers on the modal

damping, the orientation of only the two outmost

layers in each of the above four plates was varied
from 90 to 90 in intervals of 15 and, for each
such variation, the theoretical modal damping of the
plate in the rst mode was computed for dierent combinations of clamped and free boundary conditions.
The results are shown in Figures 25.
Finally, the variation of both the frequency and
damping with respect to the orientation of the two outmost layers is considered in Figure 6 for the cross-ply
plate under the CFFF boundary conditions.

Discussion
The modal damping of a FRP laminate is governed by
a complex relationship between the plate layup, its
mode shape, and boundary conditions.
As the plate stiness is a function of its layup, those
laminates in which there is a relatively uniform spread
of the ber lay with respect to direction do not experience a steep change in stiness with direction and,
therefore, can be expected to have a similarly uniform

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Journal of Composite Materials 0(0)

Table 2. Modal properties of the 45/0 plate in the first four modes for different boundary conditions
f=333 (Hz) ; SDC=1.42%

f = 583 (Hz) ; SDC= 1.81%

f = 761 (Hz) ; SDC= 1.18%

f = 970 (Hz) ; SDC = 2.00%

f= 256 (Hz) ; SDC = 1.18%

f= 375 (Hz) ; SDC = 1.44%

f = 623 (Hz) ; SDC= 1.79%

f = 684 (Hz) ; SDC = 1.15%

f= 411 (Hz) ; SDC = 1.46%

f= 749 (Hz) ; SDC = 1.69%

f = 822 (Hz) ; SDC= 1.24%

f = 1166 (Hz) ; SDC = 1.62%

f=283 (Hz) ; SDC=1.23%

f = 516 (Hz) ; SDC = 1.48%

f = 703 (Hz) ; SDC = 1.16%

f = 852 (Hz) ; SDC = 1.65%

spread of damping with respect to direction. For example, the variation of the SDC over the whole set of
mode shapes and boundary conditions of the 45 laminate (Table 1) is seen to be relatively small, ranging
from a minimum of 1.08% to a maximum of 1.69%,
which is a dierence (rise) of 56%. As is evident from
the results of the 45/0 laminate (Table 2) when 0
layers are added to the basic 45 laminate, this dierence becomes larger, ranging from 1.15% to 2.00%,
which is a dierence of 74%. The variation in the
SDC results increases sharply for the cross-ply laminate
(Table 3) ranging from 0.77% to 2.54%, which is a
dierence of 230%. However, as expected, by far, the
largest variation in the SDC is experienced by the laminate which has the largest variation of the stiness with
direction, namely, the all-zero laminate (Table 4).
In this laminate, the variation in the SDC over the
whole range of boundary conditions and mode shapes
considered ranges from 0.65% to 4.52%. This amounts
to a dierence of almost 600%.
It is noted that the all-zero and cross-ply laminates
consist only of the specially orthotropic plies, and as

such exhibit nodal lines that are straight and parallel

with the plate sides, while the nodal lines in other laminates are mostly skewed and curved (cf. Tables 1 and 4).
This is because of the absence of the in-plane shear couplings Q16 and Q26 in a specially orthotropic ply.
Although, the all-zero laminates are the most exible
in terms of the manipulation of the amount of damping
output, they are also the least practical of panels since
they have a poor cross-ber and longitudinal shear
stiness.
For the same boundary conditions, the amount of
damping in the panel will depend on the interaction
between the two remaining factors, namely the lay of
the bers and its relationship to the particular mode
shape. Generally speaking, when the lamina is exed
along the bers such that the axis around which bending occurs is perpendicular to the lay of the ber, then
bers are strained along their length and this results in a
sharp increase in the strain energy. Although, shearing
does occur in the resin, because of the high stiness
of the bers along their length, it is proportionally
less than when the lamina is exed across the bers.

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Maheri

Table 3. Modal properties of the cross-ply plate in the first four modes for different boundary conditions
f=127 (Hz) ; SDC=1.17%

f=231 (Hz) ; SDC =1.43%

f =289 (Hz) ; SDC=0.95%

f =359 (Hz) ; SDC=1.38%

f =101 (Hz) ; SDC=0.85%

f=131 (Hz) ; SDC =1.53%

f=235 (Hz) ; SDC = 1.59%

f =274 (Hz) ; SDC=0.77%

f =136 (Hz) ; SDC=1.79%

f=250 (Hz) ; SDC =2.07%

f =296 (Hz) ; SDC=1.18%

f =380 (Hz) ; SDC=1.86%

f= 104 (Hz) ; SDC = 1.12%

f= 152 (Hz) ; SDC= 2.54%

f= 265 (Hz) ; SDC = 2.46%

f= 276 (Hz) ; SDC = 0.83%

As a result, the SDC is reduced. For analogous reasons,

damping increases when the panel is exed across the
bers. These processes can be seen clearly by comparing, for example, the damping results of the second and
fourth modes of the all-zero plate with the all-clamped
(CCCC) boundary conditions (Table 4).
The inuence of the combination of ply orientation,
stacking sequence, and mode shape on the damping is
clearly seen by comparing the second and third modes
of the cross-ply laminate under the CCCC boundary
conditions (Table 3). Here, the second mode is 50%
more damped than the third because the sequence of
the 0 layers with respect to the mid-plane is the one
above the 90 layers. Since the crest of the wave is perpendicular to the 0 layers in the third mode, this results
in a higher bending stiness, and lower damping, of this
mode compared with the second mode. Naturally, analogous arguments apply to the modal frequency, which
is higher in the third mode than the second.
It would be of interest to compare the modal damping of a plate under clamped and free boundary

conditions. In Table 5, the theoretical and experimental

results of the all-free (FFFF) cross-ply plates are tabulated. These results may be compared with those of
Table 3, which are the theoretical predictions obtained
for the same plate, but where at least one of the edges is
clamped. It is seen that, as expected, the frequencies of
the clamped plate are generally higher than the free
plate. Hence, one consequence of clamping an edge is
an increase in the exural frequency of the plate, which
indicates an increase in the exural stiness and this, in
turn, results in a relatively lower modal damping.
Although clamping an edge will impose additional constraint on the plate, the actual amount of stiness will
depend on the mode shape and its relationship with the
lay of the bers.
Since the bending stiness increases with the distance from the mid-plane, the two outmost layers
have the most inuence on the dynamic response of a
FRP plate. In Figures 25 the SDC of the rst mode,
which in practical terms is the most prominent mode, is
considered as a function of the angle of the two

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Journal of Composite Materials 0(0)

Table 4. Modal properties of the all-zero plate in the first four modes for different boundary conditions
f =377 (Hz) ; SDC =0.73%

f=144 (Hz) ; SDC=1.10%

f =183 (Hz) ; SDC=2.43%

f =264 (Hz) ; SDC=3.76%

f=135 (Hz) ; SDC =0.65%

f =149 (Hz) ; SDC=1.47%

f =190 (Hz) ; SDC=2.87%

f =271 (Hz) ; SDC =3.96%

f=154 (Hz) ; SDC =1.75%

f =212 (Hz) ; SDC=3.46%

f =308 (Hz) ; SDC =4.37%

f =384 (Hz) ; SDC =0.92%

f=138 (Hz) ; SDC=0.84%

f =170 (Hz) ; SDC=2.46%

f= 234 (Hz) ; SDC=3.84%

f =329 (Hz) ; SDC =4.52%

Table 5. Theoretical and experimental modal properties of the

cross-ply plate in the first four modes with freefree (FFFF)
boundary conditions (reproduced from Maheri and Adams7)

Freq.
(Hz)
SDC
(%)

Theo.

27.6

71.9

91.1

98.9

Expr.

28.6

69.6

88.3

97.4

Theo.

5.74

1.21

2.90

0.71

Expr.

5.73

1.47

3.69

0.64

outmost layers for dierent plates under dierent

boundary conditions. The bold markers in these gures
indicate the plate SDC values for the original orientation of the two outmost layers in each plate.
The results in Figure 2 show that in the case of the
45 laminate, no signicant gain in the SDC can be

made by varying the angle of the outmost layers when

the plate is under the CCCC or the CFCF boundary
conditions, whereas in the case of CCFC and CFFF
boundary conditions the damping can be increased by
49% and 60%, respectively, by increasing the angle of
the bers in the two outmost layers from 45 to 90 .
Although the extent of the variation in the SDC
results for the 45/0 plate in Figure 3 is not as large
as that in the 45 results, some interesting trends can
be observed here. Under the CFCF boundary conditions, the original 45 angle of the outmost plies is in
fact where the SDC is the minimum. Hence, as the
gure shows, a modest gain in the SDC can be made
by either increasing the angle toward 90 or decreasing
it toward 90 . In either of the CCFC and CFFF cases,
a similarly modest gain can be made by either increasing the angle toward 90 or decreasing it to values
between 30 and 90 .
The cross-ply laminate show the largest variation
in the rst mode SDC with respect to the angle of
the outmost plies (Figure 4). The modal SDC in the
plate can rise for as much as 148% under the CFFF,

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Maheri

3.00

SDC (%)

2.50

2.00

1.50

1.00

0.50
CCCC

0.00
90

75

60

45

30

15

CCFC
CFCF

15

30

45

60

75

90

CFFF

Figure 2. SDC of the first mode as a function of the angle of the two outmost layers in the 45 plate for different boundary
conditions.

3.00
SDC (%)
2.50

2.00

1.50

1.00

0.50
CCCC

0.00
90

75

60

45

30

15

CCFC
CFCF

15

30

45

60

75

90

CFFF

Figure 3. SDC of the first mode as a function of the angle of the two outmost layers in the 45/0 plate for different boundary
conditions.

and 190% under the CCFC boundary conditions by

changing the original angle of the outmost plies
from 0 toward either 90 or 90 . Under the
CCCC boundary conditions, the damping maximizes with an outmost ply angle of 45 or 45 ,
whereas the damping minimizes for the same angles
when the plate is under the CFCF boundary
conditions.

The trend of the results in the all-zero panel

(Figure 5) is similar to that in the cross-ply panel,
although the overall extent of the variation of the
SDC with the angle of the outmost plies is not as
large. As can be seen, under the CCCC boundary conditions maximum damping is obtained when the angle
of the outmost plies is 45 or 45 , while under
CFCF boundary conditions the damping becomes

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10

Journal of Composite Materials 0(0)

3.00
SDC (%)
2.50

2.00

1.50

1.00

0.50
CCCC

0.00
90

75

60

45

30

15

CCFC
CFCF

15

30

45

60

75

90

CFFF

Figure 4. SDC of the first mode as a function of the angle of the two outmost layers in the cross-ply plate for different boundary
conditions.

3.00
SDC (%)
2.50

2.00

1.50

1.00

0.50
CCCC

0.00
90

75

60

45

30

15

CCFC
CFCF

15

30

45

60

75

90

CFFF

Figure 5. SDC of the first mode as a function of the angle of the two outmost layers in the all-zero plate for different boundary
conditions.

minimum at these angles. Furthermore, under both

CCFC and CFFF boundary conditions, the panel
gains in modal damping when the angle of the outmost
plies is changed from 0 toward either 90 or 90 .
It is noted that there is by denition an inverse
proportionality between stiness and damping in FRP

materials such that an increase in one through

the manipulation of ber orientation occurs at the
expense of a decrease in the other. The results in
Figure 6 serve to illustrate this relationship where a
rise in the frequency is accompanied by a fall in the
damping.

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Maheri

11
3.5

120

100

2.5
2
60

SDC (%)

Freq. (Hz)

80

1.5
40
1
20

0.5
Freq
SDC

0
90

75 60 45 30

15

15

30

45

60

75

90

Figure 6. Illustration of the inverse proportionality between the frequency (stiffness) and damping using the frequency and damping
results obtained for the first mode of the CFFF cross-ply plate as functions of the angle of the two outmost layers.

Conclusions
Results were presented showing the mechanism of
modal damping at work in laminated FRP composite
panels. It was shown that the extent of the variation of
modal damping over a range of modes and boundary
conditions is generally a function of the extent of the
variation of the laminates stiness with respect to
direction. The variation of modal damping of a laminated FRP plate with respect to the angle of the ber in
the two outmost layers were considered for a number of
dierent layups with dierent combinations of clamped
and free boundary conditions. The trend of these
results showed that it is possible to increase modal
damping by simply manipulating this angle. In some
cases, the rise in modal damping could be considerably
high; gures as large as 190% were recorded. Data,
such as those presented in this study can be useful for
the designer to consider the possibility of increasing the
modal damping of the FRP panel without compromising too much its stiness.

References
1. Adams RD and Bacon DGC. Effect of fibre orientation
and laminate geometry on the dynamic properties of
CFRP. J Compos Mater 1973; 7: 402428.
2. Ni RG and Adams RD. The damping and dynamic moduli
of symmetric laminated composite beams theoretical and
experimental results. J Compos Mater 1984; 18: 104121.
3. Lin DX, Ni RG and Adams RD. Prediction and measurement of the vibrational damping parameters of carbon and
glass fibrereinforced plastics plates. J Compos Mater 1984;
18: 132152.

4. Adams RD and Maheri MR. Dynamic flexural properties of anisotropic fibrous composite beams. Compos Sci
Technol 1994; 50: 497514.
5. Maheri MR and Adams RD. Finite-element prediction of
modal response of damped layered composite panels.
Compos Sci Technol 1995; 55: 1323.
6. Yim JH and Gillespie Jr JW. Damping characteristics of
0 and 90 of AS4/3501-6 unidirectional laminates including the transverse shear effect. Compos Struct 2000; 50(3):
217225.
7. Maheri MR and Adams RD. Modal vibration damping
of anisotropic FRP laminates using the Rayleigh-Ritz
energy minimization scheme. J Sound Vib 2003; 259(1):
1729.
8. Maheri MR, Adams RD and Hugon J. Vibration damping mechanism in FRP/honeycomb sandwich panels.
J Mater Sci 2008; 43: 66046618.
9. Saravanos DA and Chamis CC. An integrated methodology for optimizing the passive damping of composite
structures. Polym Compos 1990; 11(6): 328336.
10. Saravanos DA and Chamis CC. The effects of interply
damping layers on the dynamic response of composite
structures. NASA Technical Memorandum 104497, 1991.
11. Cawley P and Adams RD. The predicted and experimental natural modes of free-free CFRP plates. J Compos
Mater 1978; 12: 336347.
12. Gibson RF. Modal vibration response measurements for
characterization of composite materials and structures.
Compos Sci Technol 2000; 60(15): 27692780.
13. Deobald LR and Gibson RF. Determination of elastic constants of orthotropic plates by a modal analysis/RayleighRitz technique. J Sound Vib 1988; 124(2): 269283.
14. Ashton JE and Waddoups ME. Analysis of anisotropic
plates. J Compos Mater 1969; 3: 148165.
15. Young D. Vibration of rectangular plates by the Ritz
method. J Appl Mech 1950; 17: 448453.

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Appendix

Table A1. Specifications of the CFRP plates

Plate designation

Material

Layup

a (mm)

b (mm)

t (mm)

 (kg/m3)

45
45/0
All-zero
Cross-ply

913C-HTA
913C-TS
913C-HTA
913C-HTA

(45,45, 45,45)s
(0,0,45,45,0,0,0,45,45)s
(0,0,0,0)s
(90,0,90,0)s

287
254
270
289

286
254
273
287

1.033
2.32
1.084
1.05

1538
1508
1531
1532

Table A2. Constitutive elastic and damping data of the CFRP plates
Plate

E1 (GPa)

E2 (GPa)

G12 (GPa)

12

45
45/0
All-zero
Cross-ply

124.5
110.0
124.5
124.5

10.19
8.97
10.19
10.19

6.27
3.90
6.27
6.27

0.34
0.34
0.34
0.34

(%)

0.55
0.75
0.55
0.55

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(%)

4.975
5.95
4.975
4.975

12

(%)

5.916
6.79
5.916
5.916

vf (%)
0.60
0.54
0.60
0.60