Free Vibration of Angle-ply Laminated Conical Shell Frusta with Linear and Exponential Thickness Variations

Free vibration of laminated conical shell frusta of variable thickness is studied using spline approximation. This problem includes first order shear deformation and considers shells as antisymmetric angle-ply orientation. The governing differential equations of the shells are resolved in terms of displacement functions and rotational functions. These functions are approximated using splines and the method of collocation is adopted for simultaneous algebraic equations. These equations become generalized eigenvalue problems and are solved numerically to avail eigenfrequencies and the corresponding eigenvectors. The variation of frequencies is analysed with respect to the cone angle, aspect ratio, material properties, number of layers, and thickness variation.