Vibration of twisted laminated composite conical shells

A methodology for free vibration of a laminated composite conical shell with twist is proposed, in which a strain–displacement relationship of a twisted conical shell is given by considering the Green strain tensor on the general thin shell theory, the principle of virtual work is utilized, and the governing equation is formulated by the Rayleigh–Ritz procedure with algebraic polynomials in two elements as admissible displacement functions. The convergence, the accuracy and the validity of the methodology are verified by comparisons. As a result of the vibration frequencies and mode shapes, the effects of the laminated constructional and the geometric parameters, such as the number of laminae, the fiber orientation angles, the twist angle, the subtended angle and the taper ratio, on the vibration characteristics are studied by the present methodology.