Damping characteristics of thick rectangular laminates

The analysis for the exact three-dimensional viscoelastic solution for simply supported, thick rectangular laminates is developed. Each lamina is assumed to possess orthotropic or higher material symmetry and to be perfectly bonded to adjacent lamina. The damping capacity, or loss factor, of the laminate is derived from the exact three-dimensional elasticity solution using energy principles, allowing the analysis of arbitrary through-the-thickness geometry for the laminate. The damping characteristics of the laminate, as well as its natural modes of vibration, are obtained with the aid of the matrix transfer method. The matrix transfer method simplifies the requisite analytical developments as well as speeding the numerical calculations. The solution is compared with previous approximate thin-plate and discrete layer theory solutions. The damping capacity of the laminate is investigated as a function of modal frequency, plate thickness aspect ratio and total bonding layer thickness ratio. (C) 1996 Acoustical Society of America.