Variability Analysis of Modal Characteristics of Frequency-Dependent Visco-Elastic Three-Layered Sandwich Beams With Spatial Random Geometrical and Material Properties

Abstract : Material and physical properties of a frequency-dependent visco-elastic sandwich beam are modeled as a set of spatial random fields and represented by means of the Karhunen–Loève expansion. Variability analysis of frequency and loss factor are performed. An efficient approach based on modal stability procedure (MSP) is used, the so-called Monte Carlo simulation (MCS)–MSP method. The latter provides very reliable results and allows to analyze the impact of the input variability of a high number of random spatial quantities on the output response. The effect of independent and correlated couples of spatial random fields is investigated. It is shown that the output variability is generally more important for damping than for natural frequencies. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the input variability in geometrical properties are the most impacting for damping and frequency. The influence of input coefficient of variation on output variability is also studied. It is shown that a negative correlation between the face and core thicknesses result in high levels of output variability, when one parameter increases as the other decreases.