Damping and Vibration Characteristics of Carbon Fiber Sandwich Beams with Corrugated Cores

Composite sandwich beams are widely favored for their high strength-to-weight ratio, so understanding their vibration characteristics is important for optimizing designs in critical industries. This study investigates, through experimental and statistical analyses, the impact of core geometry on the vibration characteristics of epoxy/carbon fiber composite sandwich beams featuring sinusoidal and trapezoidal cores. Modal tests were conducted to determine natural frequencies, damping ratios, and mode shapes. The height and angle of the cores were treated as key independent factors influencing the beams’ vibration characteristics. In both of the cores the damping ratio values increased about 25% and 35% with increasing the height and angle of the sinusoidal and trapezoidal cores, respectively. Additionally, response surface methodology (RSM) was used for statistical analysis of these input parameters’ effects on damping properties, and the optimal values of core’s geometries were determined. Finally, finite element analysis was performed to calculate the vibration properties of the composite sandwich panel that showed good agreement with the experimental results demonstrating strong agreement.