Composite Structures 208 (2019) 426–433

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Composite Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct

Experimental and numerical investigation of the damping of flax–epoxy T

composite plates
S. Mahmoudia, A. Kervoelena, G. Robinb, L. Duigoua, E.M. Dayab, J.M. Cadoua
a
Institut de Recherche Dupuy de Lôme, UMR CNRS 6027, IRDL, F-56100 Lorient, France
b
Université de Lorraine, CNRS, Arts et Métiers ParisTech, LEM3, F-57000 Metz, France

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: In this paper, the vibration behaviour and damping performances of Flax Fiber Reinforced Epoxy (FFRE) are
Composite structure investigated. Static tests using FFRE composite beams are carried out leading to the identification of elastic
Damping properties of each layer. Then, three FFRE composite plates are elaborated and used in experimental vibration
Flax fibers tests to identify their eigenfrequencies and their modal damping. In numerical part, a constant complex re-
Vibration
presentation of the stiffness is assumed and the loss factors are supposed constants and identified from the first
Asymptotic Numerical Method
Finite elements
experimental vibration mode. The homogenization technique and the finite element method are applied to
Visco-elasticity describe their damped dynamic behaviour. The resolution of the resulting non-linear problem is carried out
using the Asymptotic Numerical Method (ANM). Experimental results show that the modal damping is greater
when the flax fibers are oriented at 90°. Comparing numerical and experimental results, the proposed finite
element modelling enables to estimate the damped eigenfrequencies with high accuracy. However, the predicted
modal loss factors are over-estimated compared to experimental ones. It is concluded that the present modelling
should be improved considering the frequency dependence of damping.

1. Introduction on the composite parameters such as constituent properties, fiber volume

Over the last decades, the use of composite materials has significantly
increased. They have gradually replaced the metal materials in various
industrial fields such as water sports, ship-building, air- and railroad-
transport, automotive industry and also leisure activities or renewable
energies. As an example, in the aeronautical domain, this exponential use
of composite materials is evidenced nowadays in the composition of the
AIRBUS A350 XWB and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner where respective
composite material weights amount to 53% and 50% of the total weight.
This is due to numerous beneficial properties of composites compared to
traditional materials: weight reduction with high strength and rigidity,
corrosion resistance, thermal properties, resistance to fatigue and wear.
Weight reduction also decreases carbon dioxide emissions and generates
significant energy savings. This is a key-issue in a context where energy
prices keep increasing and finite resources are gradually depleting.
Composite structures can be subjected to large excitation amplitudes
when they are in use. This can induce high vibrational and acoustic levels.
Thus, according to the safety and comfort requirements, the use of com-
posite components puts forward promising perspectives thanks to their
interesting dissipative capacity. Energy dissipation in composites results
mainly from the damping capacity of the constituent materials (matrix and
fiber). Indeed, similarly to other mechanical properties, damping depends
fraction and fiber orientation. For the polymeric matrix, Chung [1]
showed that thermoplastic polymers are more dissipative than thermosets
which are more widely used for their better elastic properties. For syn-
thetic composites, the effect of fiber volume fraction is investigated
through several research works [2–4]. They confirm that damping de-
creases with respect to the fiber volume fraction. Similarly, the influence
of fiber orientation on dissipative capacity is studied in the context to
optimize composites regarding both mechanical and damping properties
[3,5,6]. Several investigations are focused on comparing different syn-
thetic fiber materials. It is concluded that glass fibers have higher damping
characteristics than Kevlar [7] and carbon fibers [8].
In the last few years, there has been significant interest in natural fibers
motivated by their potential benefits of lower commodity prices, ecolo-
gical advantages of using renewable resources [9,10] and especially by
their damping performance. In fact, the use of composite materials started
with natural fibers. In ancient Egypt, about 3000 years ago, clay was re-
inforced with straw to build walls. Later, natural fibers lost much of their
interest due to the use of other more durable materials such as metals and
synthetic composites. This can be explained by the fact that natural fibers
exhibit poorer mechanical properties [11] and greater variability of these
characteristics [12] compared to synthetic fibers. However, recently de-
veloped treatments have considerably improved these properties [13] for

E-mail address: laetitia.duigou@univ-ubs.fr (L. Duigou).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2018.10.030
Received 17 April 2018; Received in revised form 11 September 2018; Accepted 8 October 2018
Available online 10 October 2018
0263-8223/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Mahmoudi et al.
the Flax Fiber Reinforced Polymer composites (FFRP). In addition to the
common source of damping in composites such as the viscoelastic beha-
viour of the matrix and/or fibers, energy dissipation in FFRP is enhanced
through the friction within flax fiber bundles [14].
Damping characterisation of FFRP was the subject of several ex-
perimental investigations. Using the Dynamic Mechanical Analysis
(DMA), the damping of Glass Fiber Reinforced Epoxy (GFRE) was
compared to Flax Fiber Reinforced Epoxy (FFRE) by Wielage et al. [15].
They showed that FFRE are characterized by a higher loss factor and the
recycling processing has a negligible effect on mechanical properties.
Prabhakaran et al. [16] have shown that the FFRE can improve the
damping coefficient by more than 50% while enabling a weight reduc-
tion of 33% compared to GFRE plates with the same thickness. Duc et al.
[17] have tested various composites made of glass, carbon and flax fi-
bers associated with various thermosets and thermoplastic matrices.
They have shown that the use of unidirectional FFRE increases the loss
factor by 200% and 133% compared to unidirectional Carbon Fiber Re-
inforced Epoxy (CFRE) and GFRE, respectively. In addition, their results
show that the use of thermoplastic matrices makes it possible to further
increase the damping composite properties [18]. El Hafidi et al. [19]
found that the damping property of FFRE can be 5 times higher than for
unidirectional CFRE and 2 times higher than for GFRE. In order to
improve the damping of FFRE, the effect of the impregnation quality,
the fiber/matrix adhesion, the fiber quality, the twist angle of the flax
yarns, the crimp in the flax fabrics [20] and fiber treatment [21] are
investigated. It is observed that the fiber twist and crimp and the fiber
treatment via polyol additions enhance the loss factor of FFRE sig-
nificantly. Thus, composites reinforced with natural fibers generate
higher vibration damping properties. As a result, numerous studies
have been carried out on hybrid composites [16,22], for example
mixing carbon fibers and flax fibers to achieve better compromise be-
tween mechanical and damping performances.
Different models are developed in order to describe the damping of
composites. The most commonly used models are linear viscoelastic
ones, complex modulus approach and strain-energy methods. Since the
main damping source is induced by the polymer matrix, linear viscoe-
lastic models such as Kelvin–Voigt, Maxwell or Zener models are pro-
posed. These models need a low number of parameters to represent the
damping. They benefit from their availability in commercial software
but they cannot give a full representation of the energy dissipation
mechanisms [23]. In the complex modulus approach, the material
stiffness is divided into two parts. A real part called storage modulus
representing elastic stiffness and an imaginary part called loss modulus
describing the dissipative behaviour. Herein, the damping capacity of
the material is expressed with the ratio between storage and loss
modulus. This approach was proposed by Neumark [24] to investigate
forced and free vibrations. Then, some researchers [25,26] proposed
that the damping be evaluated with the ratio between the stored and
the dissipated energy in composites. The damping dependance on dif-
ferent parameters such as frequency and temperature are investigated
Fig. 1. Coordinates system of a multilayered composite structure and its mid-surface plane.
427
Composite Structures 208 (2019) 426–433
through these models [27–29], especially for synthetic composites and
sandwich structures. However, there are few studies dealing with the
damping modelling of natural composites.
The aim of the present work is to characterize the damping perfor-
mance of FFRE structure using experimental and numerical investiga-
tions. Herein, a first modelling approach is proposed. In order to simplify
the numerical modelling, the viscoelastic behaviour is described through
a complex representation of mechanical properties considered constant
in all layers. These constant complex representations for each mechanical
parameter are identified from the first experimental modes. For the
damped vibration numerical simulation, the homogenization technique
and the discretization method are applied considering a finite isopara-
metric shell element. The resolution of the resulting non-linear problem
is carried out using the Asymptotic Numerical Method (ANM). This
method associates a high order perturbation method and a homotopy
technique. The initial complex problem is linearized and a set of linear
algebraic systems is obtained, which is easier to be solved. In order to
validate the numerical modelling, three FFRE plates with the same
thickness and composed of 12 unidirectional layers are investigated. The
mechanical properties are identified experimentally by tensile tests and
loss factors are obtained using the half-power bandwidth method. Then,
numerical and experimental results are compared and discussed.
2. Problem formulation
The theories used for the numerical formulation of composite struc-
tures are essentially divided into two categories. The first one is the
equivalent single layer theory, including Classical Laminate Theory (CLT),
First-order Shear Deformation Theory (FSDT), and Higher-order Shear
Deformation Theory (HSDT). The second is based on the Layer-Wise
Theory and includes theories of independent and dependent layers. These
theories are detailed in the works of Berthelot [30] and Reddy [31].
The choice of one of these formulations is mainly conditioned by the
structure thickness. For thin composite structures, the use of a for-
mulation from the first category is recommended [31] when the pur-
pose of the study is the determination of the overall response such as
time response and eigenfrequencies.
2.1. Finite element modelling
In the present works, the FSDT theory is retained for its lower
computational cost and also for its simplicity of implementation in a
finite element code. The composite structure has a overall thickness h
and n layers. The global coordinate system ( x , y , z ) is chosen such as
the plane ( x , y ) is located in the structure mid-plane ( x , y ) and z is
oriented in the thickness direction as shown in Fig. 1. The kth layer has
hk = z k + 1 z k as thickness, where z k + 1 and z k are the thickness co-
ordinates of the upper and lower surfaces of the layer as shown in
Fig. 1. Only three translations (u0 , v 0, w 0 ) and two rotations ( x , y )
S. Mahmoudi et al. Composite Structures 208 (2019) 426–433

Specimens
Epoxy (a)
+ Counter mould
Flax fibres Curing + Cutting (b)
Frame Base mould
Heated press
Fig. 2. Process to perform the flax/epoxy composites, (a) and (b) are the specimens used for static and dynamic tests respectively.

Fig. 3. SEM micrographs of cross-section of two

samples with 0° and 45° fibers orientations.

Table 1
Engineering constants of the 50% flax reinforced composite materials.
EL [GPa] ET [GPa] GLT [GPa] LT kg/m 3

25.28 2.26 1.59 0.46 1117

enable to express the structure displacement. It is assumed that the

normal stress in z direction is null, the displacement field {u} in the
( x , y , z ) plane can be expressed as:

u (x , y , z ) u0 (x , y ) x (x , y)
u x , y, z = v (x , y , z ) = v 0 (x , y ) + z y ( x , y)
w (x , y , z ) w 0 (x , y ) 0

u0
v0
= A (z ) w0 Fig. 4. Experimental equipment for the vibration tests.
x
y (1) 0 0 0 0 u0
x
v0
with Eb = 0 0 0 0 y w0
1 0 0 z 0 x
0 0 0
A (z ) = 0 1 0 0 z y x y (5)
0 0 1 0 0 (2)
u0
where u , v and w represent the displacement along the axes x , y and 0 0 1 0 v0
z , respectively. u0 (x , y ), v 0 (x , y ) and w0 (x , y , t ) denote the corre- Es =
x
w0
sponding displacement of mid-surface plane in the ( x , y , z ) directions 0 0 0 1 x
y
and ( x , y ) are the rotations with respect to y and x axes. y (6)
The strain tensor can be written as:
In this study, the viscoelastic behaviour is introduced by the complex
1
=2 ( u + uT ) modulus approach by assigning a viscous coefficient to the elastic
properties. Therefore, the mechanical properties
Em
EL, ET , GLT , G LT , GTT of the composite structure can be expressed,
= z Eb
Es in the fiber reference, as:
(3)
EL = EL (1 + i L)
where represents the gradient function.
ET = ET (1 + i T )
Em , Eb and Es are the strains due to the membrane, bending and
shear effects, respectively. They can be written in matrix form based on GLT = GLT (1 + i LT )
the displacement field {u0 , v 0, w 0, x , y}T as follows: GLT = GLT (1 + i LT )
GTT = GTT (1 + i TT ) (7)
0 0 0 0 u0
x
v0 where i is the unit imaginary number = 1. E and G are the Young’s
i2
Em = 0 0 0 0 w0
y modulus and the shear modulus respectively. The L, T, T′ indices re-
0 0 0
x
present respectively the longitudinal direction, the transverse direction
y x y (4) in layer plane and the transverse direction in thickness.

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S. Mahmoudi et al. Composite Structures 208 (2019) 426–433

Fig. 5. Effect of the fiber’s orientation on the fundamental eigenfrequency.

Fig. 6. FRFs measured at positions A and B of a 0° flax/epoxy specimen.

n
Table 2 Aij = Aij + iAij = (Qij )k [hk hk 1 ]
Mean values of the first six eigenfrequencies of flax/epoxy specimens [Hz]. k=1
n
° Mode 1
Bij = Bij + iBij = 2
(Qij )k [hk2 hk2 1 ]
k=1
1 2 3 4 5 6 n
1
58.82 125.70 377.96 481.35 562.1 858.27
Dij = Dij + iDij = (Qij )k [hk3 hk3 1]
0° 3
k=1
45° 24.56 122.12 187.95 344.83 625.74 929.78
90° 18.24 95.59 119.42 304.04 340.94 573.67 (i , j ) = 1, 2, 3 (10)

The real part represents the elastic material constant while the • Shear
imaginary part denotes its viscous contribution and represents the
N
damping ratio in a given direction layer. This allows to decompose the
Sij = Sij + iSij” = (Qij )k [hk hk 1], i , j = 4, 5
behaviour matrix as follows: n= 1 (11)
A B 0 A B 0 A B 0
[D ] = B D 0 = B D 0 +i B D 0
0 0 S 0 0 S 0 0 S (8)
The constant Qij are the classical engineering constants [30,31].
= [D ] + i [D ] (9) For the finite element discretization, the Serendip Q8 quadrangular
element is used. The Q8 element is chosen based on its high perfor-
• Membrane-bending mances in the finite element modelling of thin and thick composite
structures [32,33]. Hence, the displacement can be expressed in the
local coordinates ( , , z ) as:

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S. Mahmoudi et al. Composite Structures 208 (2019) 426–433

Fig. 7. Mean values of the first sixth modal loss factors for the 0°, 45° and 90° flax/epoxy specimens.

Table 3 [K e] = [K 0e] + i [K ve] (13b)

Loss factors i of the 50% flax reinforced composite materials.
1 1
[K 0e]= 1 1
[B ]T [D ][B ] det (J ) d d
L T LT
1 1
[K ve]= 1 1
[B ]T [D ][B ] det (J ) d d (13c)
2.95 × 10 2 4.87 × 10 2 3.95 × 10 2

is the volumic density and J the Jacobian and det represent the de-
terminant.
Table 4 K 0e : Real part represents the elastic stiffness.
Experimental (fEXP ) and numerical (fEVE ) eigenfrequencies [Hz] of flax/epoxy K ve : Imaginary part represents the viscous part of the structure.
laminates according to the orientation of fibers. [B ] is a strain interpolation matrix and it is expressed as:
Mode 0° 45° 90°
Ni
0 0 0 0
x
fEXP fEVE fEXP fEVE fEXP fEVE Ni
0 0 0 0
y
1 58.8 59.8 24.5 26.0 18.2 17.8 Ni Ni
2 125.7 127.7 122.1 129.0 95.5 100.9
0 0 0
y x
3 377.9 371.1 187.9 174.5 119.4 111.9 Ni
0 0 0 0
4 481.3 488.5 344.8 366.2 304.0 313.2 x
5 562.1 507.1 625.7 509.8 340.9 319.0
[B ] = Ni
0 0 0 0
6 858.2 861.8 929.7 660.3 573.6 514.9 y
Ni Ni
0 0 0
y x
Ni
Table 5 0 0 Ni 0
x
Experimental ( EXP ) and numerical ( EVE ) modal damping factors of flax/epoxy Ni
0 0 0 Ni
laminates according to the fiber orientation y (14)
Mode 0° 45° 90° These integrals are evaluated using the four Gauss integration points

EXP EVE EXP EVE EXP EVE such as , (

= ±
1
3
,±
1
3 ). The global matrices are obtained by as-
1 0.0295 0.0293 0.0395 0.0415 0.0487 0.0484 sembling the elementary matrices. In the absence of external force, the
2 0.0237 0.0365 0.0401 0.0415 0.0342 0.0404 damped dynamic behaviour of the structure is described by Eq. (15):
3 0.0172 0.0294 0.0288 0.0393 0.0270 0.0484
4 0.0237 0.0337 0.0298 0.0434 0.0401 0.0484 [K 0 + iKv 2M ] U =0 (15)
5 0.0407 0.0464 0.0266 0.0392 0.0322 0.0412
6 0.0432 0.0401 0.0388 0.0441 0.0346 0.0472 where K 0, Kv , M are respectively global elastic stiffness, viscoelastic
stiffness and mass matrix. and U are the eigenfrequency and the
corresponding mode shape.
{u ( , , z )} = [A (z )](3 × 5) [N ( , )](5× 40) { ue} (40 × 1) (12) For each mode, the solution of Eq. (15) allows characterisation of
the structural damping properties as following classical formula [34]:
where [A (z )] is the matrix of z-coordinates along the thickness direc-
tion, [N ( , )] is the matrix of the shape functions and { ue} is the ele-
2 = 2 (1 +i ) (16)
mentary nodal displacements. Then, using the variational Hamilton where is the damped eigenfrequencies and is the loss factors of the
principle, the elementary mass and stiffness matrices are carried out, as structure.
follows:

1 1
2.2. Resolution procedure
[M e] = h [N T A (z )T A (z ) N ] J d d (13a)
1 1
These last decades, several methods have been developed for the

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S. Mahmoudi et al. Composite Structures 208 (2019) 426–433

Fig. 8. Numerical first six mode shapes of the 0° flax/epoxy plate.

Fig. 9. Numerical first six mode shapes of the 45° flax/epoxy plate.

Fig. 10. Numerical first six mode shapes of the 90° flax/epoxy plate.

evaluation of both the resonant frequency and the loss factor from
the complex eigenvalue problem (15). The main reason is the com-
mercial codes such as Abaqus or Ansys are unable to solve Eq. (15).
These numerical methods are: the direct frequency response method
[35], the modal strain energy method [35,36], the complex eigenvalue
method [37,38], the asymptotic method [39], the order-reduction-
iteration method [40], the asymptotic numerical method [41–43. A
detailed overview presenting advantage and drawbacks of these
methods can be found in [44]. In this paper the asymptotic numerical
method is applied using the so-called high order iterative L algorithm
[42] which combines a homotopy technique, perturbation and con-
tinuation methods. This method solves (15) with a fast convergence and
a moderate computational cost. More details can be found in [42].
3. Experimental procedure
3.1. Materials
In this paper, the investigated composite structures are made of
unidirectional long flax fibers (200 g/m2 of flax) manufactured by

431
S. Mahmoudi et al.
LINEO and the Epolam 2020 epoxy manufactured by AXSON.
Composite samples of flax/epoxy plates are produced through a manual
lay-up process where the volume percentage of flax fibers is about 50%.
The resin is poured progressively during the deposition of the flax
layers into a mould made of a frame between two steel plates re-
presenting the base and the counter mould. The role of the frame is to
define the thickness of the plates. Then, the mould is introduced in a
press at constant pressure of 50 bars for consolidation. Finally, once the
curing step is completed, the produced plates are demoulded and cut
into different specimens for testing (Fig. 2). Samples from composites
are examined by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) (Jeol JSM 6460
LV). Images are analysed to control the fiber volume content and por-
osity as depicted Fig. 3. The specimens are coated with a thin gold–-
palladium layer to avoid charging. The mean value of porosity is less
than 2.5% .
In order to determine the longitudinal modulus EL , the transverse
modulus ET and the Poisson’s ratio LT , 12 layers are used to perform
two flax/epoxy plates with 0° and 90° as fiber directions and 3.1 mm as
thickness. For the shear modulus, a plate with 4.5 mm thickness and
made of 16 flax layers oriented at ± 45° is elaborated. Then, the spe-
cimens for the mechanical tensile tests are rectangular plates with the
following dimensions: a width of 25 mm and a length of 250 mm .
An universal MTS Synergie 1000RT tensile machine with a 10 kN
load cell is used to perform the static tests. To avoid slippage at the
testing clamps, glass fiber composite end-tabs are glued to the speci-
mens remaining 24 h at room temperature followed by 12 h at 60 °C for
bonding and curing. Then, all specimens are conditioned for at least
24 h at a controlled temperature of 23 °C and a relative humidity of
RH = 48% [45]. A biaxial gauge of a 10 mm length is bonded at the
middle of each specimen and the load is applied at a constant cross-
head-displacement rate of 1 mm/min up to 10 kN . The determination of
mechanical properties is carried out with respect to the DIN EN ISO 527-
1 and DIN EN ISO 14129 standards. The obtained mean values of the
engineering constants referred to the material directions (L, T , T ) of
flax/epoxy tested samples are indicated in Table 1. The density in
Table 1 is obtained using a density determination kit.
3.2. Vibration tests
The dynamic characteristics of the investigated flax/epoxy compo-
sites are derived from the analysis of the clamped-free vibrations of the
test specimens as shown in Fig. 2. The samples for vibration tests are
rectangular (Fig. 2(b)), where the geometrical dimensions are 250 mm
in length and 100 mm in width and the mean thickness is 3.1 mm . The
composite plates are fixed to the shaker (ets solution-10 kN -100 g ) with
the Clamping-Free-Free-Free (CFFF) boundary condition. 50 mm of the
specimen length is clamped directly to the shaker thanks to clamping
system (Fig. 4). An accelerometer is placed directly on the surface of the
shaker to control the excitation. Thus the acceleration vibration of the
shaker is set and constant to 0.4 g for the frequency range (15–1500 Hz) .
The second accelerometer is fixed to the free end of the specimen to
measure the vibration. Three positions, (A, B and C), are assigned to the
accelerometer in order to determine the different vibration mode
shapes of the structure as shown in Fig. 4. At least, four samples of each
fiber orientation, (0°, 45°, 90°) , are tested.
The normalized spectrum of the displacement around the first mode
is depicted in Fig. 5. We can observe the effect of the fiber orientations.
On the first mode, for instance, the resonante frequency decreases de-
pending on the fiber orientations.
In order to dissociate the vibration mode, measures are taken on two
different points (A and B). Two FRFs measured at A and B of a specimen
are presented in Fig. 6. One can observe that there are some modes
which are not detectable when the test is limited to position A where
only the bending modes are detected. So, the data from position B
permits to identify the non-bending mode shapes.
The eigenfrequencies corresponding to the peaks of the measured
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Composite Structures 208 (2019) 426–433
FRFs of each specimen are determined and their mean values are listed
in Table 2.
Fig. 7 depicts the modal loss factors which are obtained by com-
puting the mean values of the modal damping ratios for all tested
samples. The damping ratio is calculated for all the modes of each
sample using the 3 dB method. It also can be observed on Fig. 5, that
the fiber orientations have a significant effect on the first mode.
At this stage, the assumption of the constant complex representation
of the mechanical properties is considered (Eq. (7)). The loss factors i
are defined from the first mode of each considered flax/epoxy speci-
mens (Table 3).
4. Results and discussion
The numerical resolution is carried out using in-house (EVE) code
based on the FORTRAN® software. The mechanical properties of the
investigated structures are taken equal to the averages given in
Table 1. The thickness is about h = 3.2 mm and the density is
= 1117 kg/m3 . The boundary conditions are similar to the experi-
mental tests (CFFF).
It is assumed that the storage modulus and the Poisson’s ratios
do not depend on frequency. Roger [46] proposed a method for
characterizing the loss factors by determination of L , T and LT .
These damping parameters are identified using 0°, 90° unidirec-
tional beam specimens and ± 45° angle-ply beam specimens. Roger
[46] affirmed that only the first resonant frequency must be utilized
for loss factor determination. This restriction is due to the fact that
it was unknown what effect the different modes of vibration would
have on the resulting loss factor. Thereby, based on the previous
experimental investigation, the numerical values of loss factors are
taken as the average values of the tested specimens.
In order to validate the finite element modelling, the experimental
and numerical eigenfrequencies of the flax/epoxy laminates are
compared. Table 4 shows that the finite element model, given in
Section 2, allows to estimate the structure eigenfrequencies with great
accuracy.
The experimental and the computed modal loss factors are listed in
Table 5 and the first six mode shapes of the investigated plates are
depicted in Figs. 8–10. It is observed that the present modelling ap-
proach can predict the modal loss factors with a good agreement to the
experimental values for the bending modes. Taken into account the
experimental and numerical results, the three first modes can be clearly
identified and compared as function of orientation. The orientation
produces shifting on the order and the shape of the mode. For example,
the mode number 5, have the same modal displacement for the 0° and
90° orientation contrary to the 45° orientation. However, it over-esti-
mates the modal damping for non-bending modes. The relative error
between the experimental and numerical eigenfrequencies increases
depending on the number of eigenmode: 1.1% for the first mode and
1.8% for the third mode to 0° fiber orientation for example. Regarding
the mode number, Fig. 7 shows that, for the bending modes Figs. 8–10
the loss factor is much greater with respect to the layer orientation. We
can note that the loss factor is higher for 90° orientation in the two first
bending and twisting modes. Then, this behaviour is reversed.
From the obtained results, the principal remarks can be pointed out:
– The damping properties of the FFRE structure depend on the fiber
orientation.
– The complex constant representation of the mechanical properties is
not sufficient.
– The stiffness and the damping of the FFRE seem to be frequency
dependent.
In order the improve the proposed approach, the frequency dependent
viscoelastic models have to be considered such as Kelvin or Maxwell
ones.
S. Mahmoudi et al.
5. Conclusion
In this paper, the vibration behaviour and the damping performances
of Flax Fiber Reinforced Epoxy are investigated. Firstly, experimental tests
have been carried out: static tests and vibration tests lead respectively to
estimate elastic and damping properties of a layer. Secondly, the vibration
problem resolution of flax–epoxy composite plates is numerically studied.
A constant complex representation of layer stiffness is assumed and de-
fined from the first experimental mode of different orientation plates. A
homogenization technique is applied. The finite element method allows to
describe the damped dynamic behaviour. In order to solve the non-linear
problem of vibration, perturbation method and homotopy technique are
used. So, a set of recurrent linear problems is obtained. The considered
hypothesis of the layer characteristics and the application of the ANM
allow to solve non-linear vibration problem and lead to damped fre-
quencies and loss factors of the flax–epoxy composites according to the
experimental dynamic tests. Here, we have proposed a first approach of
layer damping. In other words, we have considered a constant complex
representation of layer stiffness and the loss factors are deduced from the
first experimental mode of flax/epoxy laminates (0°, 45°, 90°). As the
composite has a natural characteristic, and according to the obtained re-
sults, we can conclude that the viscoelastic characteristics are not constant
such as supposed in the present modelling. That is why the following step
will consist in improving the present investigation by considering the
damping dependence on temperature and frequency.
Acknowledgements
This work has been supported by Université Bretagne Sud through
grant FAR which is gratefully acknowledged.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in the
online version, athttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2018.10.030.
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