Approximate analytical solutions for the nonlinear free vibrations of composite beams in buckling

We present approximate analytical solutions for the nonlinear free vibrations of symmetrically or asymmetrically laminated composite beams in prebuckling and postbuckling. Simply supported and clamped–clamped boundary conditions are considered. Galerkin’s discretization is used to obtain the nonlinear ordinary differential equations governing the large-amplitude vibrations of composite beams in prebuckling and postbuckling, which are found to be of the same form. The variational method of He and is used to derive an approximate analytical solution for the nonlinear natural frequency and the nonlinear load–deflection relation. Results obtained by using the proposed analytical solution is compared with the finite element results available in the literature and a good agreement has been obtained. Numerical results to show the variation of the nonlinear natural frequency with the applied axial load for a variety of composite laminates are presented. The contribution of the amplitude of vibration on the nonlinear load–deflection response and the nonlinear natural frequency is found to be significant.