In recent years, studies on the development of new and advanced composite materials have been increasing. Among these new technological products, Fiber Metal Laminates (FML), and hybrid structures made of aluminium, carbon, glass or aramid fiber, are preferred especially in the aircraft industry due to their high performance. Therefore, free vibration analysis is necessary for the design process of such structures. In this study, the vibration characteristics of FML for clamped-free boundary conditions were investigated experimentally and numerically. Firstly, numerical results were obtained using Finite Element Method (FEM) and then these results were compared with the experimental results. It was seen that the numerical results were in good agreement with the experimental results. As the theoretical model was justified, the effects of various parameters such as number of layers, fiber orientations, and aluminium layer thickness on the in-plane vibration characteristics of the FML straight beam were analysed using FEM. Thus, most important parameters affecting the vibration characteristics of the hybrid structures were determined.

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PurposeThis study aims to demonstrate the numerical application of differential quadrature (DQ) methods and show the experimental application of free vibration analysis of fiber-metal laminated composite (FML) plates with various boundary conditions.Design/methodology/approachThe FMLs are hybrid structures consisting of fiber-reinforced polymer matrix composites such as carbon, glass, aramid and different metal sheets, and are currently widely used in the automobile, aircraft and aerospace industries. Thus, free vibration analysis of these hybrid materials is necessary for the design process. The governing equations of motion are derived based on the classical plate theory. The DQ, generalized DQ (GDQ) and harmonic DQ (HDQ) differential quadrature methods have been used to solve the governing equations of an FML composite plate numerically. The accuracy and convergence of the numerical model have been verified by comparing the results available in the published literature with the results obtained from these methods. Moreover, an experimental procedure has been performed in order to compare the results against those of the numerical methods.FindingsIt is noteworthy that a high degree of similarity and accuracy was observed between the numerical results obtained by the DQ methods and the experimental results. Thus, the present study validates the applicability of the DQ methods for designing the FML composite plates.Originality/valueIn this study, the advantages of the DQ methods have been demonstrated differently from previous studies on the vibration analysis of the FML plates.

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