Identification of Layer Elastic Parameters for Laminated Plates Using Analytical Solutions and Sensitivity Analysis

An inverse analysis method to identify the layer elastic parameters for the laminated composite materials using the analytical solution and the sensitivity analysis is proposed. Subsequently, the proposed method is applied to a laminated square plate and the estimated layer elastic parameters are compared with the obtained experimental ones. First, natural frequencies and mode shapes are obtained by applying the experimental modal analysis technique to a laminated square plate with free boundary conditions. Next, the layer elastic parameters of the plate are identified by using the iteration method consisting of the Ritz procedure and the sensitivity analysis from the obtained natural frequencies and mode shapes. Also, the sensitivity analysis is used to estimate the change in quantities of the layer elastic parameters. On the other hand, the layer elastic parameters themselves are directly obtained by another experimental technique. The identified elastic parameters were compared, and found to agree well, with these experimental elastic parameters.