Dynamic Analysis of Composite Micro Air Vehicles

Abstract

The present work deals with a combined experimental and numerical study of vibration of woven fiber Glass/Epoxy (G/E) composite plates with delamination used for aerospace vehicles including Micro air vehicles (MAV). The airframe and wings of a MAV are preferred to be of composite materials, which allows for wing flexibility without sacrificing durability. The resulting vehicle is durable but lighter than conventional counterparts. For numerical analysis, a finite element model was developed using first order shear deformation theory for an eight noded two dimensional quadratic isoparametric element having five degrees of freedom per node. In the experimental study, the influence of various parameters like delamination size, boundary conditions and fiber orientations on the natural frequencies of delaminated composite plates were investigated. Comparison of numerical results with experimental results showed a good agreement. Fundamental natural frequencies were found to be decreased with the increase of delamination size and fiber orientation of delaminated plate. Natural frequency of delaminated plate varied significantly for different boundary conditions.