A PARAMETRIC STUDY ON THE AXISYMMETRIC MODES OF VIBRATION OF MULTI-LAYERED SPHERICAL SHELLS WITH LIQUID CORES OF RELEVANCE TO HEAD IMPACT MODELLING

The free vibration of spheres composed of inviscid compressible liquid cores surrounded by spherical layers of linear elastic, homogeneous and isotropic materials are studied using three-dimensional elasticity equations. The exact three-dimensional equations are first derived for an N -layered sphere with a liquid core and an extensive parametric study is then presented for the first few natural frequencies of the spheroidal modes of vibration. Non-dimensional frequency parameters are compared with values obtained using lower order membrane and shell theories. It is shown that for a remarkably wide range of geometric and material parameters, which encompasses values typical for the human head, the first ovalling mode of a fluid-filled shell behaves like a membrane filled with incompressible fluid and a simple closed-form expression is derived which closely approximates the natural frequencies obtained using the exact three-dimensional equations.