Effect of the Transverse Shear Deformation on the Free Vibration of Rotating Blades Modeled as Thin-Walled Composite Beams

Abstract

In this paper, vibration analysis of a blade modeled as an anisotropic composite thin-walled beam is carried out. The analytical formulation of the beam is derived for the flapwise bending, chordwise bending and transverse shear deformations. The equations of motion are solved by applying the extended Galerkin method (EGM) for anti-symmetric lay-up configuration that is also referred as Circumferentially Uniform Stiffness (CUS). Consequently, the natural frequencies are validated by making comparisons with the results in literature and it is observed that there is a good agreement between the results. Combined effects of transverse shear, fiber orientation, and rotational speed on the natural frequencies are further investigated.