Abstract

Longitudinally-tapered laminated composite pipes conveying fluid are capable of stiffness- and mass-tailoring design such that they have many industrial applications, including in mining industries and buildings. In this thesis, the free and forced lateral vibration response of symmetric uniform-thickness longitudinally-tapered laminated pipes are investigated with various taper angles, laminate configurations, axial tensile forces, fluid velocities, and boundary conditions. Since the determination of the exact solution for the governing equation of motion of the pipe, obtained using Newton’s second law, in space and time coordinates is difficult to obtain, the Galerkin method is used in the present work to obtain the solution. The flexural rigidity of the composite pipe is determined using two different approaches. The first approach is based on the formulation previously developed for a composite tube. The second approach is based on the modification of the formulation previously developed for a thick composite pipe. In addition, the obtained results are validated and compared to those obtained by the forward finite difference method. The natural frequencies and transverse deflections are computed. Then, the forced vibration response to harmonic loadings of the pipe is obtained through the use of the assumed modes method, along with modal analysis results determined by the free vibration analysis. A harmonic load is applied in the undamped and damped forced vibration analysis of the pipe. Then, the solution accuracy is examined by comparing the obtained results from free and forced lateral vibration analysis with those available in the literature. Moreover, free and forced undamped axial vibrations of uniform laminated composite pipes using classical lamination theory are examined for the influences of fluid velocity and laminate configuration on the axial displacement.