Free Vibration Behavior of Dispersed Nano-CNT FRP Hybrid Composite Plate Using 4-Variable Refined Plate Theory

Fiber-reinforced composites (FRP) play an important role in present-day applications such as aerospace, automobile, spacecraft, boats, sports goods, and civil infrastructures. The synthetic fibers may release harmful effects during manufacturing and explosions which may cause respiratory problems, eye and skin irritations, etc. In order to overcome these effects, the synthetic fibers are replaced with natural fibers due to their bio-degradable nature. In this research, the dispersed Nano-CNT hybrid FRP composite plate is used to enhance to dynamic characteristics of plate. Spider silk and flax fibers are used with a small amount Nano-CNT dispersed in each lamina to improve the mechanical properties to replace the synthetic fiber usage. The properties of the lamina are also determined by using micromechanical models where the CNT epoxy properties by Mori–Tanaka method and lamina by Rule of Mixtures. Detailed evaluations of the dynamic characteristics of the composite plate with different parameters are an important aspect to achieve the optimal structural design with greater performance characteristics. The refined plate theory is applied for enhancing the dynamic characteristics of hybrid multilayered plate at different boundary conditions. The equations of motion are determined by Hamilton’s principle, and the analysis is done by Galerkin solution. The influence of thickness ratio (a/h), boundary condition, and amount of dispersed Nano-CNT on natural frequency is done analytically at different boundary conditions. The outcomes of the ANSYS APDL simulation are compared with the finding from 4-Variable Refined Plate Theory.