LAUSR

Abstract On the basis of three-dimensional elasticity theory, semi-analytical solutions that combine the state space technique (SST) and differential quadrature method (DQM) were developed for the free vibration of arbitrary angle-ply laminated cylindrical shells with simply-simply, simply-clamped and clamped-clamped support boundary conditions. The SST was applied in the radial direction while the DQM was employed to discretize the longitudinal direction of the cylindrical shells. The derived equation of motion was solved for the free vibration of general cylindrical shells, including the isotropic, orthotropic, or monoclinic material behavior. The theoretical solutions were verified by comparing the reported results of two-dimensional shell theory in the literature and the finite element results from commercial software. The effects of layer angle on natural frequencies were also investigated.