Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2013
In this paper, an analytical solution is developed for free vibration analysis of conicalfiber metal shells. In order to find constitutive relations, the assumptions of thinshells are used and the governing equations are based on Love’s theory. The Galerkin methodis employed to solve the governing equations in which beam functions are used toapproximate the mode shapes. Using beam functions enables us to assess the effects ofdifferent boundary conditions on the frequency response of the shells. Numericalcomparisons of the present and previously published results confirm the accuracy of thecurrent approach. Additionally, the influences of geometrical parameters and embeddingaluminum plies in different layers of the structure on natural frequency of the conicalshells with various boundary conditions are investigated. It can be observed that the morethe aluminum plies are used, the greater natural frequency of the structure will bereached. Except the clamped-free boundary conditions, the results also indicate that ifthe aluminum plies are embedded in the top and bottom layers of the laminate, naturalfrequency reaches its maximum value.