Free vibration of non-circular cylindrical shells with variable circumferential profile

An analysis is presented of the free vibration of non-circular cylindrical shells with a variable circumferential profile expressed as an arbitrary function. The applicability of thin-shell theory is assumed and the governing equations of vibration of a non-circular cylindrical shell are written in a matrix differential equation by using the transfer matrix of the shell. Once the transfer matrix has been determined by numerical integration of the matrix equation, the natural frequencies and mode shapes of vibration are calculated numerically in terms of the matrix elements. The method is applied to cylindrical shells of three or four-lobed cross-section, and the effects of the length of the shell and the radius at the lobed corners on the vibration are studied.