Free vibration analysis of composite sandwich plates

The fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) composite materials configured as sandwich panels are finding increased usage in a variety of structural applications. An important facet in correct usage is an understanding of the dynamic behaviour of such structural configurations. This paper addresses the issue of natural frequencies of sandwich plate panels. The closed-form solutions are obtained using Reddy's first- and higher-order shear deformation theories. The approaches are validated against results from a standard, commercially available finite element analysis package. The paper concludes with a detailed investigation of the influence of variation in material property parameters and plate geometry variables on the natural frequency.