Experimental investigation of dynamic characteristics of basalt fiber composite plates using impact-based modal analysis

Abstract Basalt fiber reinforced polymer(BFRP) also composite are widely used in the lightweight structure construction because of their stiffness, durability and environmental resistance. Nevertheless, little experimental data exists on the dynamic and damping properties of the material compared with conventional glass and carbon fiber laminates, which are of importance in vibration sensitive designs. This paper is an experimental modal characterization of a unidirectional basalt fiber composite plate on cantilever boundary conditions via experimental modal analysis experiment with an impact hammer-based experimental modal analysis apparatus. Bruel & Kjaer data acquisition provided Frequency Response Functions (FRFs), which were then extracted to get modal parameters via curve-fitting. There were four major modes that were observed in the 0–1000 Hz range and the natural frequencies were 85.7 Hz to 979.6 Hz and the damping ratios were 1.37% to 3.79%. The experimental frequencies and damping ratios are consistent with the ranges reported in other comparable laminated basalt and glass fiber composites (70–120 Hz fundamental frequency; 1–4% damping), indicating that they can be consistent with trends observed in other comparable composite systems. The work presents one of the limited experimental modal data sets on unidirectional basalt fiber composites under experimental conditions and defines reliable the parameters of the baseline numbers to be used in numerical modeling, vibration control, and practical structural design.