Modal analysis of E-glass basalt laminated composite plates based on experimental mechanical properties using FEA

The research work presents the comparative study on finite element modal analysis of 14 layers E-glass epoxy (G/E plate) and 10 layers basalt epoxy (B/E plate) composite angle-ply trapezoidal plate for various boundary conditions. The G/E and B/E plate having fiber orientations of [0 degrees/+45 degrees/0 degrees/-45 degrees/0 degrees/+45 degrees/0 degrees]s and [0 degrees/+45 degrees/0 degrees/-45 degrees/0 degrees]s are considered for fabricating plates using compression molding technique to minimize void content. Then, orthotropic properties are determined by experimental testing as per ASTM standards. The effects of different geometrical parameters including aspect ratio (a/b = 1 and 2), taper ratio (c/b = 0.25-1), and span-to-thickness ratio (a/h = 50) of trapezoidal plates on undamped modal analysis are done for G/E and B/E plates. A shell 281 element, which obeys first-order shear deformation theory, is applied in commercial finite element software to extract the natural frequencies and mode shapes for various boundary conditions using properties determined by experimental testing. The calculated mechanical properties are compared between G/E plate and B/E plate, and the results show basalt fiber as alternative material to E-glass fiber. The results of nondimensional frequency parameters and mode shapes of G/E and B/E plate also show good agreement with previous research work.