Journal of Sound and Vibration 332 (2013) 64516462

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Journal of Sound and Vibration

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsvi

Frequency maximization of laminated sandwich plates under

general boundary conditions using layerwise optimization
method with refined zigzag theory
Shinya Honda a,n, Takahito Kumagai b, Kazuya Tomihashi b, Yoshihiro Narita c
a
b
c

N13W8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-8628, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Japan

Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Japan
Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Japan

a r t i c l e i n f o

abstract

Article history:
Received 10 May 2013
Received in revised form
12 July 2013
Accepted 13 July 2013
Handling Editor: S. Ilanko
Available online 6 August 2013

The present paper extends the layerwise optimization (LO) procedure to the maximization
problem of the fundamental frequencies of sandwich plates with fibrous composites and
low stiffness core layers. Frequencies are calculated by the Ritz method based on a refined
zigzag theory (RZT). Polynomial functions which satisfy at least geometrical boundary
conditions with boundary indexes are employed as displacement functions, and they
enable satisfying arbitrary sets of boundary conditions for rectangular plates. Results of
the experimental modal analysis validate the accuracy of the present calculations, and
a comparison with results of the classical laminated theory (CLPT) and the first order share
deformation theory (FSDT) supports the effectiveness of the present method. Optimized
results are compared with other typical sets of lay-up configurations and this shows the
LO method as suitable means to the optimization problem for sandwich plates.
& 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The use of advanced fibrous composites has become common in the fabrication of aerospace, marine, and automobile
structures due to their high specific stiffness and strength. One effective application of fibrous composites is the sandwich
structure, since this structure reduces fabrication costs while maintaining high bending stiffness by using inexpensive core
materials like honeycomb layers. There are also passive constrained layer damping (PCLD) plates [1], which simply realize
excellent damping performance with viscoelastic core layers without additional external equipment. Even when the fibrous
composites are used in sandwich structures, it is important to tailor the laminate through the lay-up design to fully exploit
the potential of fibrous composites. The present paper proposes a simple optimization procedure for sandwich plates with
laminated fibrous composites based on their natural frequencies of vibration.
The CLPT [24] and the FSDT [58] are general approaches for relatively thin laminated composites to analyse the
bending deformation, and both theories are widely used in many studies and employed in the finite element analysis
method. However, they present difficulties when analysing sandwich plates with layers of low stiffness since both theories
assume that in-plane displacements vary linearly throughout the whole of the plate thickness, resulting in displacement

Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 11 706 6415.

E-mail addresses: honda@eng.hokudai.ac.jp (S. Honda), takahitokumagai@frontier.hokudai.ac.jp (T. Kumagai),
ktomi@frontier.hokudai.ac.jp (K. Tomihashi), ynarita@eng.hokudai.ac.jp (Y. Narita).
0022-460X/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2013.07.010

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S. Honda et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 332 (2013) 64516462

fields that are different from the actually deformed shapes of sandwich plates. To overcome this problem, the higher order
shear deformation theory (HSDT) and the discrete layerwise theory (DLT) have been proposed and widely studied [913].
These approaches, including the three dimensional theory (3DT) [14,15], derive more accurate results than with CLPT and
FSDT for sandwich plates containing low stiffness components. They involve, however, heavy computational effort and are
impractical to apply in optimization problems which require vast numbers of repeated calculations. In contrast, the RZT
proposed by Tessler [1619] allows large differences in stiffness among the laminated layers and it is known that the RZT
gives more accurate results than FSDT and incurs lower computational effort than DLT and 3DT. The present study calculates
natural frequencies using the Ritz method based on the RZT with a displacement function which accepts arbitrary sets of
boundary conditions.
There are numerous studies discussing the tailoring of laminated composites. Most approaches employ lamination
parameters to optimize the anisotropic properties of the laminated plates, since they can describe the anisotropy of the total
thickness of laminates independent to the number of lay-ups. However, there is a difficulty in deriving corresponding lay-up
configurations from the optimized lamination parameters, and many studies have attempted to get around this problem.
Miki et al. (described in [20]) showed a feasible region for two lamination parameters. Fukunaga et al. [2123], Grenestedt
[24], and Serge [25] derived lay-up configurations from corresponding lamination parameters by exploiting geometrical
features of feasible region. Todoroki et al. [2628] used a fractal branch-and-bound method and response surface
approximation. Autio [29] applied a genetic algorithm method, and the present authors have proposed [30] a method
deriving fiber orientation angles from lamination parameters where the angles are determined sequentially from outer
towards inner layers.
The authors here have also proposed an effective and simple optimization method for lay-up configurations without lamination
parameters, named the LO method [3133]. This method is conceived from physical observations of the bending behavior of plates,
noting that the outer layers in the laminate contribute more to the bending stiffness than the inner layers, and this enables the
assumption that laminated structures can be designed sequentially from the outermost layer to the innermost layer.
The present paper extends the LO method to sandwich structures composed of CFRP (graphite/epoxy) outer layers and
core layers with low stiffnesses, and the fundamental frequencies are maximized by designing lay-up configurations of the
CFRP layers. The Ritz method based on the RZT is formulated by using displacement functions which satisfy arbitrary sets of
boundary conditions with boundary indexes [34] to calculate frequencies of the sandwich plate.
Comparisons between numerical and experimental results demonstrate the good accuracy of the present Ritz solution based
on the RZT in the calculation of natural frequencies of sandwich plates, and then the LO approach is extended to sandwich plates
to obtain the optimum fiber orientation angles which maximize the fundamental frequencies of the sandwich plates.
2. Method of analysis and optimization
2.1. Refined zigzag function
A symmetrically laminated N-layer plate with dimensions a
b
h (h: thickness) is considered. Displacements in the x, y,
and z directions are denoted by u, v, and w. The superscript (k) indicates the physical quantities in the kth layer of the plate
in this paper.
Based on RZT, displacements in the kth layer at time t are defined by
uk x; y; z; t ux; y; t zx x; y; t k
x z x x; y; t
vk x; y; z; t vx; y; t zy x; y; t k
y z y x; y; t
wk x; y; z; t wx; y; t

(1)

where u(x, y, t), v(x, y, t) and w(x, y, t) are the displacements in the mid-plane of the plate, x(x, y, t) and y(x, y, t) are the
angles between the surface normal to the mid-plane of the plate and the deformed surface due to the shear deformation.
(k)
(k)
These are variables in common with the FSDT, and the displacement fields are corrected by x (z)x(x, y, t) and y (z)y(x, y, t)
(k)
(k)
in the RZT. The functions x (z) and y (z) are the zigzag functions which are piecewise linear in each layer, and the functions
x(x, y, t) and y(x, y, t) are amplitudes of the zigzag functions which determine the magnitude of the effectiveness of the
correction terms.
An example of the zigzag function x of the symmetric 3-layers in the x direction is shown in Fig. 1, where h(k) and z(k) are
the thickness and the z coordinate of the upper surface of the kth layer, u(k) and v(k) are the magnitudes of the zigzag
(k)
(k)
(k)
(k)
functions x (z) and y (z) at zz(k), with x and y the gradients of the zigzag function in the kth layer.
(k)
(k)
Referring to [16,17], the zigzag functions in the x and y directions x (z) and y (z) are given by
!






h 1
h
Gx
x z
1
k 1
x1 z z
1
2
2
Q 55
k
k
x z zzk1 x uk1
0
1
0
1



k
h @ Gx
G
G
x
x
i1
@
z
1A h
 k A
i1
k
2
i2
Q
Q
Q
55

55

55

k2

(2)

S. Honda et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 332 (2013) 64516462

6453

Fig. 1. Schematic illustration of the zigzag function of symmetric 3-layers in the x direction.

!






Gy
h 1
h
y z
y1 z
1
k 1
1
2
2
Q 44

 k
k
y zzk1 y uk1
0
1
0
1



k
G
G
h @ Gy
y
y
i1
@
z
1A h
 k A k2
i1
k
2
i2
Q
Q
Q
44

44

(3)

44

where Q 44 and Q 55 are the transformed elastic moduli in the transverse directions with respect to the material principle
axes, and Gx and Gy are also defined by using these, as follows:
0

11
k
1 N h A
@
Gx

h k 1 Q k
55

11
N hk
1
Gy @ k A
hk1Q

(4)

44

(k)

(k)

It is known from Eq. (4) that the zigzag functions x (z) and y (z) are defined by material constants and thicknesses of each
layer. The present study limit the plate to symmetric laminate, and thus the coupling of the stretching and bending
deformation is canceled, resulting in five independent variables, w, x, y, x, and y.

2.2. Frequency analysis by the Ritz method

For the symmetrically laminated plate, the relations between the moment vector Mb, shear force vector Qs, and strain
vectors eb and es are given by
Mb Deb
Q s Ges

(5)

where the stiffness matrixes are expressed by using the zigzag functions and transformed moduli
follows:
2
6
6
6
6
6
Z h=2 6
6
6
D
6
h=2 6
6
6
6
6
4

z2 Q 11

zx Q 11

z2 Q 12

zy Q 12

z2 Q 16

zx Q 16

x 2 Q 11

zx Q 12

x y Q 12

zx Q 16

x 2 Q 16

z2 Q 22

zy Q 22

z2 Q 26

zx Q 26

zy Q 26

x y Q 26

z2 Q 66

zx Q 66

y Q 22

x 2 Q 66
sym:

zy Q 16

k
Q ij

(i, j1, 2, 3, 6) as

3k

7
x y Q 16 7
7
7
zy Q 26 7
7
7
y 2 Q 26 7
7 dz
7
zy Q 66 7
7
7
x y Q 66 7
5
y 2 Q 66

(6)

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S. Honda et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 332 (2013) 64516462

2
6
6
6
6
h=2 6
4

Z
G

Q 44

h=2

y Q 44

Q 45

y 2 Q 44

y Q 45
Q 55

sym:

3k

x Q 45

7
x y Q 45 7
7
7 dz
x Q 55 7
5
x 2 Q 55

(7)

The maximum strain energy is derived by using Hooks law, after the strains in each direction are obtained by the first
derivatives of Eq. (1) as
Z
1 N
k
k k
k k
k k
sk k sk
U max

y y xy xy yz yz xz xz dV k
2 k 1 Vk x x
Z
1 N

Q 2 2Q 12 x y 2Q 16 x xy Q 22 2y 2Q 26 y xy Q 66 2xy Q 44 2yz 2Q 45 yz xz Q 55 2xz k dV k

(8)
2 k 1 V k 11 x
The maximum kinematic energy is
T

1 N

2k1 k

Z (
2
2
2 )
u
v
w
dV k

t
t
t
Vk

(9)

By assuming free vibration of the plate and using Eqs. (1) and (9) can be written as
Z
1
T max 2 fI 2 2x 2y 2I 1x x x I 1y y y I 0 w2 I xx 2x I yy 2y gdA
2
A
where I are the inertia amounts given by
Z h=2
Z
I0
k dz; I 2
h=2

Z
I 1y

h=2

h=2

h=2

k z2 dz; I 1x

h=2

k zy dz; I xx

h=2
h=2

h=2
h=2

k 2x dz; I yy

(10)

k zx dz;

h=2

h=2

k 2y dz

(11)

where (k) is the material density of the kth layer. To simplify the calculations, the energies Eqs. (8) and (10) are normalized
by using following relations:

Dij
Gij h
x
y
w
a
a
;
; w ; ; ; dij
; g ij
a=2
b=2
h
b
h
D0
D0

(12)

Then, the normalized functional E is obtained with the normalized energies U max and T max , as
E U max T max

(13)

The frequency equation is derived after E in Eq. (13) is minimized with respect to unknown coefficients, and finally the
non-dimensional natural frequency, the frequency parameter , is obtained as
s
1 h
2
(14)
a
D0
where is the angular frequency and D0 is the reference stiffness defined by using the material constants of the CFRP layer, as
3

D0

E2 h
12112 21

(15)

where E2 is Youngs modulus normal to the fiber directions, and 12 and 21 are the Poisson ratios in the respective directions.

2.3. Displacement function for arbitrary sets of boundary conditions

The present Ritz method employs polynomial functions with boundary indexes as the displacement functions [34], and
they are defined in non-dimensional coordinates  1, 1 which are given by Eq. (12) as follows:
J

x ; ; t Aij X i Y j sin t
i0j0
K

y ; ; t Bkl X k Y l sin t
k0l0

w; ; t

C mn X m Y n sin t

m0n0

S. Honda et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 332 (2013) 64516462

6455

Fig. 2. Dimensions and edge number in the normalized coordinates O.

P

x ; ; t

F pq X p Y q sin t

p0q0
R

y ; ; t H rs X r Y s sin t

(16)

r 0s0

where
X i i 1bc11 1bc31 ; Y j j 1bc21 1bc41
X k k 1bc12 1bc32 ; Y l l 1bc22 1bc42
X m m 1bc13 1bc33 ; Y n n 1bc23 1bc43
X p p 1bc14 1bc34 ; Y q q 1bc24 1bc44
X r r 1bc15 1bc35 ; Y s s 1bc25 1bc45

(17)

with Aij, Bkl, Cmn, Fpq, and Hrs being unknown coefficients. The bcij (i1, 2, 3, and 4, j1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) are boundary indexes
where the subscript i expresses the ith boundary from the plate left edge in the counter clockwise direction (see Fig. 2) and
j indicates the degree-of-freedom (1: x, 2: y, 3: w, 4: x, and 5: y). In the case where the degree-of-freedom is constrained,
bcij 1 is taken, and bcij 0 stands for the free edge at the boundary.
The first derivatives of E in Eq. (13) with respect to the unknown coefficients using Eqs. (16) and (17) are given by
9
8
>
E=Aij >
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
E=B
>
kl >
= 1
4 
ab I
<
J
Q
K
L
M
N
P
R
S
2
E=C mn D0 2
>
>
2
4
a
>
>
i0j0k0l0m0n0p0q0r 0s0
>
>
>
E=F pq >
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
: E=H ;
rs
2
3
9
Eiijj
Ekilj
Eminj
Epiqj
Erisj 8
> Aij >
>
>
>
6
7>
>
>
>
Ekkll
Emknl
Epkql
Erksl 7>
6 Eikjl
=
< Bkl >
6
7>
6E
7
(18)
6 imjn Ekmln Emmnn Epmqn Ermsn 7 C mn
>
6
7>
>
> F pq >
6 Eipjq Ekplq Empnq Eppqq Erpsq 7>
>
>
>
4
5>
>
>
;
:
H rs
Eirjs
Ekrls
Emrns
Eprqs
Errss
For example, an element of the matrix Eiijj is given by (see the appendix for all the elements)
Eiijj d11 I 1100 d15 I 1001 I 0110 d55 2 I 0011 g 33

2 0000
I
4

2 I 2 =42 I 0000
where I

efgh

(19)

(e, f, g, and h0, 1) are defined by

I ef gh I e f gh ef
gh
ijij

ef
ii

ii

e X i f X i
d; gh
jj
e
f
1
1

jj

h
g Y j Y j
d
g
h
1

(20)

(21)

The integral of Eq. (21) can be derived simply, by hand, and thus no numerical integration is required in the present
calculation process.

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S. Honda et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 332 (2013) 64516462

After minimizing the functional E in Eq. (13) with respect to all unknown coefficients
E
E
E
E
E

0
Aij
Bkl
C mn
F pq
H rs

(22)

Then, the following frequency equations are obtained:

8
>
< Aij

K2 M
>
:H

rs

9
>
=
>
;

(23)

Application of general numerical eigenvalue solutions to Eq. (23) lead to the frequency parameters.

2.4. Modified layerwise optimization method

The present optimization problem can be formulated as follows:
Maximize : 1
Design variables : 1 =2 =:::=N=2 s
Subject to : 901o i 901

i 1; 2; :::; N=2

(24)

The objective function to be maximized is the fundamental frequency parameter 1 defined by Eq. (14), and the design
variables are the fiber orientation angles of the fibrous composites i (i1, 2, , N/2) where 1 is the angle in the outermost
layer and N/2 is the innermost layer.
To solve the problem in Eq. (24), the present paper employs the LO concept, and the LO method is based on the well
known physical fact that the outer layer has a stronger stiffening effect than the inner layers and plays a larger role in the
natural frequency in the bending problem. This suggests that the outer layer plays the decisive role in determining the
maximum frequency of laminated plates. The effectiveness of the LO method was shown by Narita et al. [3133] and the
present paper extends the LO method to sandwich plates with low stiffness in the core layers.
In the algorithm Ref. [3133], the inner layers are initially assumed to have no stiffness but to have the same density as
the outside layers. However, in the present paper, the core material has a much lower stiffness than the outer layers. Thus,
all layers are initially assumed as core materials in the present algorithm, and the search for the optimum fiber orientation
angle is conducted from the outermost to the innermost layer, employing the CFRP material constants sequentially.
After finishing the all steps of the first iteration, further iterations for optimization are conducted to yield the optimum
solution leaving the obtained set of fiber orientation angles in the previous iteration unchanged, and the iterations are
repeated until a converged solution is found. The LO approach successfully reduces the multi-layer optimization to iterations
of the one-dimensional search, because the optimization of each layer is repeated sequentially. The modified algorithm of
the LO approach is presented in Fig. 3

Fig. 3. Process of the present LO approach proposed here.

S. Honda et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 332 (2013) 64516462

6457

Table 1
Materials and dimensions of sandwich plates.
Model

Outer layer
Thickness [mm]
Core layer
Thickness [mm]
Total thickness ( h) [mm]
Length
width ( a
b) [mm]
Thickness ratio ( a/h)

Steel Aluminum CFRP [0/90/0]

1.60
1.60
1.50
Viscoelastic material
0.60
3.80
3.60
150
150
148
148
39.5
41.1

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Comparison between the numerical and experimental results
Numerical results were compared with the experimental results to confirm the validity of the present RZT. Three
experimental models of sandwich plates including isotropic outer layers were employed here, and the materials and
dimensions are listed in Table 1. Double-faced adhesive tape (Sumitomo 3M Scotch PVG-19) is used as the core layer in all
the models due to its quite low material constants.
Model C has outer layers of laminated CFRP which are made by prepregs with the hand lay-up method and cured under
the pressure of the atmospheric environment by vacuuming. One outer layer has three layers with fiber orientation angles
[0/90/0], and thus the sandwich plate of Model C is composed of seven layers [0/90/0/core/0/90/0].
From a convergence study of the present calculation method, the numbers of terms for the displacement function in Eq. (16)
are set to 10, I JKLMNPQRS 10, and the material constants are obtained by the preliminary tensile tests and
used in the calculation are as follows:
Steel E 206 GPa;

0:30;

Aluminium E 69:0 GPa;

7955 kg=m3 

0:34;

2684 kg=m3 

CFRP
E1 114 GPa;

E2 3:96 GPa;

G12 4:70 GPa;

Corematerial E 7:0
103 GPa;

12 0:32;

0:45;

1415 kg=m3 

637 kg=m3 

where E1 and E2 are the moduli in the fiber and normal to the fiber direction, G12 is the shear modulus, 12 is the Poisson ratio,
and is the material density.
In the experiment, the natural frequency is measured by the experimental modal analysis technique where the plate is
excited by an impulse hammer (PCB Piezotoronics Type: 086E80) and acceleration response is observed by an accelerometer
(PCB Piezotoronics Type: 352C23), small enough not to affect the measurements. Both the excitation force and acceleration
signal are stored in the spectrum analyser (Ono Sokki, DS2000), and the frequency response function (FRF) is calculated
using the fast Fourier transformation (FFT) technique by the control PC. Boundary conditions are assumed to be totally free
and the plate is suspended by a rubber string. The experimental set-up is shown in Fig. 4.
Table 2 lists the obtained fundamental frequencies for each model by the experiments and by the numerical calculations.
The RZT results as developed here, the results from the CLPT, and the FSDT with four values of shear correction factors
(ks 5/6 [35], 2/12 [36], 2/3 [37], and 0.1) are shown in Table 2 where the same displacement functions are employed with
RZT and both of CLPT and FSDT.
Table 2 shows that the results of the experiments and the present RZT are in good agreement. The maximum difference
between experiments and RZT calculation is 7.08 percent for the Model C (the sandwich plate with CFRP outer layers). This is
because the variety in material properties of CFRP compared with metal plates since CFRP plates are fabricated by the hand
lay-up. Table 2 also shows that the calculated frequencies using CLPT and FSDT with four kinds of the shear correction
factors are much higher than in the experiments even the result from FSDT with low shear correction factor, ks 0.1.
Although the thickness ratios ( a/h) for all the models are about 40, thin enough to apply the CLPT and FSDT, both methods
yield inaccurate frequencies due to the presence of the core layer with low stiffness. From the above, it may be concluded
that the validity of the present RZT method is confirmed to be able to calculate and optimize the frequencies of sandwich
plates with low stiffness core layers.
3.2. Optimization results for square plates
The optimization results for 21 sets of boundary conditions are listed in Table 3. The boundary conditions of the plates
are identified by four letter abbreviations with F, S, and C denoting the free, simply supported, and clamped edges,
respectively, arranged counter-clockwise starting from the left edge of the plate. When the edge is clamped, all variables,

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S. Honda et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 332 (2013) 64516462

Fig. 4. Experimental set-up.

Table 2
Experimental and the numerical results obtained with the present RZT, CLPT and FSDT with four kinds of share correction factors, ks.
Model

Experiment [Hz]
Present RZT [Hz]
CLPT [Hz]
FSDT ks 5/6 [Hz]
FSDT ks 2/12 [Hz]
FSDT ks 2/3[Hz]
FSDT ks 0.1 [Hz]

272.2
272.1
614.1
608.3
606.0
607.1
587.9

314.0
307.4
587.3
581.7
579.5
580.6
562.1

218.8
234.3
340.4
335.1
334.3
335.1
321.3

Table 3
Optimum lay-ups and frequencies for the present sandwich square (a/b 1.0) plates with the 21 sets of boundary conditions.
No.

B.C.

Opt. lay-up

Opt. Freq.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21

FFFF
SFFF
CFFF
SSFF
SCFF
CCFF
SFSF
SFCF
CFCF
SSSF
SCSF
SSCF
SCCF
CSCF
CCCF
SSSS
SSSC
SSCC
SCSC
CCCS
CCCC

[45/-45/45/-45]s
[-45/40/-40/40]s
[0/0/0/0]s
[-45/45/45/-45]s
[70/-45/60/-80]
[75/15/15/80]s
[0/0/0/0]s
[0/0/0/0]s
[0/0/0/0]s
[0/0/0/0]s
[0/0/0/0]s
[-5/5/0/0]s
[-5/0/-5/0]s
[0/0/0/0]s
[0/0/0/0]s
[45/-45/45/45]
[75/-55/70/-85]s
[45/-45/45/-45]s
[90/90/90/90]s
[0/0/0/0]s
[0/0/0/0]s

19.19
10.62
7.508
6.890
8.776
9.511
16.66
23.31
31.48
17.33
17.59
23.89
24.09
31.83
31.98
23.29
26.42
27.36
33.38
33.91
34.68

x, y, w, x, and y, are constrained. For a simply supported edge, y, w, and y are clamped for edges 1 and 3, and x, w and
x are constrained for edges 2 and 4. All variables are un-constrained for the free edges. The boundary conditions No. 1 FFFF
and No. 2 SFFF display a rigid body motion whose the frequency does not depend on the fiber orientation angle, and so can
be disregarded, with the first elastic vibration mode regarded as the first mode here.
As shown in Fig. 5, the sandwich plates considered in the present optimization problem are symmetric 8-layered with
a middle core layer, [1/2/3/4/core/4/3/2/1], and the optimum lay-up is expressed as [1/2/3/4]s in Table 3. The plate
is square (a/b1), thickness ratio (a/h) of the plate is 10, and the proportion of the core and outer layers in the crosssectional area is 1: 4. This means that each layer has a thickness ratio of 50, and it is quite difficult to model such thin plates
using 3-dimensional finite elements. It has also been shown from the comparison with the experimental results that the
CLPT and FSDT give inaccurate frequencies for the sandwich plate with the low stiffness core layer, making the RZT superior

S. Honda et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 332 (2013) 64516462

6459

Fig. 5. Cross-sectional lay-out of the optimization problem.

Fig. 6. Plot of the frequency parameters 1 with other lay-ups for square (a/b 1.0) plates (numbers of boundary conditions are listed in Table 3).

for the present problem. The increment of fiber orientation angles is 51 in the range of  851i901, and following
material constant are used for CFRP and core materials in the optimization problem:
CFRP
E1 138 GPa;

E2 8:96 GPa;

G12 7:1 GPa;

12 0:30; and 1578 kg=m3 

Core material
E 0:104 GPa; 0:30; and 1400 kg=m3 
Due to the effect of the soft core material, the present results show different optimum lay-ups from the laminated plate
without soft material given in Ref. [31]. For example, the present optimum lay-ups for CCCC is orthotropic [0/0/0/0]s, while a
cross-ply [0/90/0/90] is given in Ref. [31]. This demonstrates that the optimization problem of a sandwich plate with soft
core material should be considered as a different problem from that of a laminated plate without soft core components.
To confirm effects of stiffnesses of core materials on the optimum lay-up, four different values for stiffnesses are employed
to calculate the optimum lay-ups for the totally clamped (CCCC) square plate. Stiffness values and obtained lay-ups are listed
in Table 5. The obtained optimum lay-ups are [90/90/90/90]s, [0/0/0/0]s, [0/90/0/0]s and [90/-5/55/-85]s, respectively. The
first and second ones are same orientations due to symmetry of the plate. The third one includes 901 for the optimum layup. However, the last one is apparently one of the local optima. This reveals that the use of stiff core materials in the LO
method results in local optima.
To confirm the validity of the present optimization results, the frequencies obtained with the various lay-ups are plotted
in Fig. 6 where the frequencies from the optimum solutions are denoted by , for the orthotropic plate [0/0/0/0]s by , for

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S. Honda et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 332 (2013) 64516462

Table 4
Optimum lay-ups and frequencies for the present sandwich rectangular (a/b 1.5) plates with the 21 sets of boundary conditions.
No.

B.C.

Opt. lay-up

Opt. Freq.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21

FFFF
SFFF
CFFF
SSFF
SCFF
CCFF
SFSF
SFCF
CFCF
SSSF
SCSF
SSCF
SCCF
CSCF
CCCF
SSSS
SSSC
SSCC
SCSC
CCCS
CCCC

[40/-35/20/-35]s
[-45/45/-30/40]s
[0/0/0/0]s
[-40/45/40/-65]s
[80/80/80/85]s
[80/75/85/80]s
[0/0/0/0]s
[0/0/0/0]s
[0/0/0/0]s
[-10/30/-25/5]s
[5/-45/-60/0]s
[0/-25/5/-5]s
[-5/-15/-5/-5]s
[0/0/0/0]s
[0/0/0/0]s
[80/-65/75/-85]s
[90/90/90/90]s
[90/90/90/90]s
[90/90/90/90]s
[90/90/90/90]s
[90/90/90/90]s

25.23
13.56
7.507
9.185
15.21
15.62
16.66
23.30
31.47
18.52
19.35
24.68
25.30
32.27
32.78
36.57
49.73
50.17
65.61
50.63
66.29

Table 5
Optimum lay-ups for four kinds of core materials for square plate with CCCC boundary condition.
Stiffness E [GPa]

Optimum lay-up

0.104
0.1
0.104 (standard)
0.104
5
0.104
10

[90/90/90/90]s
[0/0/0/0]s
[0/90/0/0]s
[90/-5/55/-85]s

Fig. 7. Plot of the frequency parameters 1 with other lay-ups for rectangular (a/b 1.5) plates (numbers of boundary conditions are listed in Table 3).

the cross-ply plate [0/90/0/90]s by , for two angle-ply plates [45/-45/45/-45]s by and [30/-30/30/-30]s by , and for the quasiisotropic plates [0/-45/45/90]s by
. The obtained lay-ups give higher fundamental frequencies than the other lay-ups, with a
single exception (see below). The results here show that the LO approach can be employed with sandwich plate structures.

S. Honda et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 332 (2013) 64516462

6461

One case, the No. 6 (CCFF) boundary condition, gives a solution for [75/15/15/80]s of 1 9.511 where the angle-ply layup [45/-45/45/-45]s results in slightly higher fundamental frequencies, 1 9.549. This indicates the possibility that the
present method may yield local optimums for specific conditions, i.e. local solution that was also found in Ref. [30]. The
present paper uses 51 for the LO search. If 451 which is more practical for real applications is used, the lay-up
results in [45/-45/45/-45]s. However, if 11 is used, [16/77/78/12]s with 1 9.513 is found as the optimum. This is
slightly higher than the result with 51 but still lower than [45/-45/45/-45]s. Therefore, the fine increment is not
necessarily the better solutions.
3.3. Optimization results for rectangular plates
Table 4 lists the optimization results for rectangular plates (a/b 1.5) for 21 sets of boundary conditions, and the optimal
frequencies are plotted with other typical lay-ups in Fig. 7 in the same format as in Fig. 6 where another orthotropic plate
[90/90/90/90]s denoted by + is also included due to the asymmetric shape of plate here. The rectangular plate gives results
with the higher frequencies than those of other lay-ups for all boundary conditions, without any exceptions.
4. Conclusions
Displacement functions which satisfy arbitrary sets of boundary conditions are applied to a RZT, and the natural
frequencies of sandwich plates with soft core materials are calculated based on the Ritz method. The calculated frequencies
from the present RZT results are in good agreement with experimental results for sandwich plates, where the CLPT and the
FSDT give very different results. These discrepancies show the effectiveness of the present calculation method. The method
developed here was applied to the LO method to maximize the fundamental frequency of sandwich plates. The application
showed that with one exception, all solutions indicate the highest frequency parameters in the typical lay-ups investigated
here. This shows that the LO method is effective in frequency maximization of sandwich plates with the refined zigzag
theory.

Acknowledgment
The support of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) through Grants KAKENHI-A-2424604002 and
KAKENHI-B-24760179 (for young scientists) is gratefully acknowledged.
Appendix
The elements of Eq. (19) are given by
2 0000
I
2 I 2 =42 I 0000
4
2
Ekilj d13 I 0110 d15 I 1100 d35 2 I 0011 d55 I 1001 g 13 I 0000
4

Eminj g 13 I 0010 g 33 I 1000

2
2
2
1100
0110
1001
2 0011
Epiqj d12 I
d16 I
I
d56 I
g 34 I 0000 2 I 1x =42 I 0000
4
2
0110
1100
1001
2 0011
Erisj d14 I
d17 I
d37 I
d57 I
g 23 I 0000
4
2 0000
0110
1001
1100
2 0011
Ekkll d33 I
d35 I
I
d55 I
g 11 I
2 I 2 =42 I 0000
4

Emknl g 11 I 0010 g 13 I 1000

2
2
2
Epkql d16 I 1100 d23 I 1001 d36 2 I 0011 d56 I 0110 g 14 I 0000
4
2 0000
0110
1001
1100
2 0011
2
Erksl d34 I
d37 I
I
d57 I
g 12 I
 I 1y =42 I 0000
4
Emmnn g 11 2 I 0011 g 13 I 0110 I 1001 g 33 I 1100

Eiijj d11 I 1100 d15 I 1001 I 0110 d55 2 I 0011 g 33

2 I 0 =42 I 0000

Epmqn g 14 I 0001 g 34 I 0100

2
2

Ermsn g 12 I 0001 g 23 I 0100

2
2

6462

S. Honda et al. / Journal of Sound and Vibration 332 (2013) 64516462

2 0000
I
2 I xx =42 I 0000
4
2
Erpsq d24 I 0110 d27 I 1100 d46 2 I 0011 d67 I 1001 g 24 I 0000
4
2

0011
1001
0110
1100
0000
Errss d44 2 I
d47 I
I
d77 I
g 22 I
2 I yy =42 I 0000
4

Eppqq d22 I 1100 d26 I 1001 I 0110 d66 2 I 0011 g 34

(A1)

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