Vibrational analysis of carbon fibre composite structures containing randomly distributed graphene platelets using a three-dimensional spectral element method

Official URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2026.120774

This study investigates the dynamic behaviour of carbon fibre composite structures reinforced with graphene platelets. The dispersion of graphene platelets within the composite matrix is assumed to be random in each layer. To accurately predict the mechanical behaviour, a novel three dimensional spectral element method is presented. The proposed approach combines the computational efficiency of meshless methods with the element based robustness of the finite element method, resulting in an efficient and reliable numerical framework. An image processing algorithm is developed to quantify phase volume fractions and compute element-level effective material properties using grayscale-based colour detection. To assess the accuracy and reliability of the proposed numerical method, validation studies are performed and compared with those obtained from finite element software. The comparisons demonstrate that the developed method can accurately and efficiently predict the natural frequencies of layered composite structures. Furthermore, comprehensive parametric analyses are conducted to examine the effects of carbon fibre orientation and graphene platelet weight fraction on the dynamic behaviour of the structure through frequency response studies. The results reveal that, for two different boundary conditions, both fibre orientation and graphene platelet content have a significant influence on the dynamic response of the composite structure.