Effect of Shear Correction Factor on Free Vibration Analysis of Symmetric and Antisymmetric Sandwich Plates

This paper presents the effect of varying shear correction factors on the free vibration response of symmetric and antisymmetric sandwich panels obtained using FEM in conjunction with first-order theory. The FEM is developed using an eight-nodded isoparametric element having 5 degrees of freedom for determining the non-dimensional natural frequency of symmetric and antisymmetric sandwich plates for distinct values of the correction factor. The accuracy of the suggested FEM is estimated by correlating the present results for free vibration analysis with available benchmark solutions available in the literature. The effects of change in shear correction factor and boundary condition on the free vibration response of the symmetric and antisymmetric sandwich structures are estimated. It is shown here that the correction factor and the boundary condition have a critical role to calculate the accurate natural frequency of symmetric and antisymmetric sandwich plates. Further, it is shown here that the present FEM is accurate and simple for the dynamics analysis of rectangular sandwich panels.