DYNAMIC RESPONSE SIMULATION OF VISCOELASTIC SANDWICH STRUCTURES USING FINITE ELEMENT MODELLING

Viscoelastic sandwich structures are widely used in aerospace, automotive and marine 
applications because of their excellent vibration damping ability coupled with high stiffness to 
weight ratio. This study examines the dynamic response and modal characteristics of three layer 
viscoelastic sandwich plates by using Finite Element Modelling (FEM). The sandwich setup is 
composed of a viscoelastic core made of Natural Rubber (NR) and isotropic face sheets made of 
Aluminium (Al) and Stainless Steel (SS). Three material combinations Al NR Al, Al NR SS, and 
SS NR SS are analyzed under different boundary conditions such as C-F-F-F, S-S-S-S, C-F-C-F, 
and C-C-C-C. Modal analysis is done using ANSYS 19.2 Mechanical APDL to find out natural 
frequencies and associated mode shapes. The effects of face-sheet materials properties, density 
variation and the boundary constraints in the vibrational behaviour are systematically studied. 
Results show that the natural frequencies can be significantly increased with increasing boundary 
rigidity and face sheet stiffness and that fully clamped configurations show highest natural 
frequencies. The study gives comprehensive insight into vibration control performance of 
viscoelastic sandwich plates and for optimized structural design for lightweight dynamic 
applications.