Vibration and stability of sandwich beams with elastic bonding

This paper is a study of the vibration and stability of symmetrical sandwich cantilevers with elastic bonding. The horizontal displacements of the face layer and the core are discontinuous due to the elasticity of the interface bond. The shear traction at the interface is assumed to be proportional to the relative horizontal displacement of the layers. The core layer is subjected to a horizontal (conservative) or tangential (non-conservative) axial force at its free end. It is shown that a symmetrical sandwich beam with elastic bonding has two kinds of vibration modes: i.e., bending modes and longitudinal modes. Numerical results are given for a beam composed of FRP face layers and a syntactic-foam core layer. It is shown that the divergence and the flutter type instability loads, as well as the natural frequency, are affected considerably by the stiffness of the interface bond.     

Vibration and stability of a non-uniform Timoshenko beam subjected to a follower force

An analysis is presented for the vibration and stability of a non-uniform Timoshenko beam subjected to a tangential follower force distributed over the center line by use of the transfer matrix approach. For this purpose, the governing equations of a beam are written in a coupled set of first-order differential equations by using the transfer matrix of the beam. Once the matrix has been determined by numerical integration of the equations, the eigenvalues of vibration and the critical flutter loads are obtained. The method is applied to beams with linearly, parabolically and exponentially varying depths, subjected to a concentrated, uniformly distributed or linearly distributed follower force, and the natural frequencies and flutter loads are calculated numerically, from which the effects of the varying cross-section, slenderness ration, follower force and the stiffness of the supports on them are studied.     

Vibration of an excitation system supported flexibly on a viscoelastic sandwich beam at its mid-point

A vibration analysis of an excitation system supported flexibly on a three layer sandwich beam is presented in this paper. The flexibly supported excitation system, which is essentially the primary system, consists of a mass, a spring and a dash-pot. The beam is analyzed separately as a continuous system in a classical way and then its dynamic stiffness at the junction point is combined with that of the primary system to obtain the resultant dynamic stiffness, which in turn is used to develop the expressions for the response of the primary system and the transmissibility provided by the whole system. Both response and transmissibility are evaluated for different geometrical and physical parameters of the sandwich beam. The solution to this problem is also obtained by approximating the sandwich beam by a lumped mass supported on a spring and dash-pot. The results in the two cases are compared. Results obtained from an experimental test-rig substantiate the theoretical results.     

Forced non-linear vibrations of a damped sandwich beam

Forced, damped, non-linear, low-frequency flexural motions of a clamped-clamped sandwich beam with thin face sheets and a soft viscoelastic core are examined experimentally and theoretically. The theory employed neglects the extensional rigidity of the core and treats the face sheets as membranes. The non-linearity stems from axial stretching of the face sheets. Damping is taken into account by modeling the core as a Kelvin solid, with the material parameters used being obtained experimentally as functions of frequency and temperature. Theoretical frequency-amplitude relations are obtained using Galerkin's procedure and the method of harmonic balance. Results on fundamental natural frequencies, mode shapes, and stability are also presented. In the experiment, mechanical contact with the specimen was avoided by employing electromagnetic forcing and using a proximeter to measure displacements. Also, special attention was given to the interface bonds and to the reproduction, as close as possible, of clamped-clamped conditions. Agreement between the theoretical and experimental results is, in general, quite good.     

Trapping of a supersonic beam in a traveling magnetic wave

Here we report on a new approach to the magnetic deceleration of supersonic beams, based on the generation of a propagating wave of magnetic field. Atoms and molecules possessing a magnetic dipole moment, in so-called low field seeking quantum states, are trapped around a node of the propagating wave. The wave travels at a desired velocity in the direction of the supersonic beam, which can be chosen to match a velocity class populated in the beam. An additional quadrupole guide provides transverse confinement, independently of the decelerator itself. Our technique has been conceived to generate a smooth motion of the magnetic wave, which should optimize the efficiency of the trapping during a future Zeeman deceleration of the beam. We demonstrate the trapping of metastable argon atoms in a magnetic wave traveling at selected, constant velocities.     

Frictional vibration transmission from a laterally moving surface to a traveling beam

As the density of information stored in automated magnetic tape libraries continues to increase, greater requirements are placed on the precision of mechanical positioning in order to successfully read and write data bits. The location of the read/write head in the direction across the tape's width (termed the lateral direction) is actively controlled in order to maintain alignment between the head and data tracks, even in the presence of the tape's lateral vibration. However, during repositioning, vibration is undesirably transmitted from the laterally moving head structure to the axially moving tape because of frictional contact between the two adjacent surfaces. As an analog of that interaction, a model is developed here to describe frictional vibration transmission from a surface having prescribed lateral motion to a tensioned beam that travels and slides over it. For a transport speed that is high when compared to the lateral vibration velocity, Coulomb friction between the surface and the beam can be well-approximated by an equivalent form of viscous damping. The beam is divided into contiguous regions corresponding to free spans and the beam's portion that contacts the surface. A critical engagement length between the beam and the surface exists for which vibration transmission at a particular natural frequency can be substantially reduced, and for a given mode, that length depends weakly on the surface's position along the beam's span. By contouring the surface to have portions of differing radii of curvature, the extent of vibration transmission can be reduced over a broad range of frequency.     

Vibration of a rotating beam with tip mass

The vibration frequency of a rotating beam with tip mass is investigated. The finite element method is used, a third order polynomial being assumed for the variation of the lateral displacement. The effects of the root radius, the setting angle and the tip mass are incorporated into the finite element model. The results are compared with results from previous authors utilizing Myklestad and extended Galerkin methods. The results show that the setting angle has a significant effect on the first mode frequencies but not on the high frequencies. The tip mass tends to depress the frequencies at low speeds of rotation but it tends to increase the frequencies at high speeds of rotation. The results of this work have applications in wind turbine rotors, helicopter rotors, etc., and the method used here can be extended to investigate the vibration frequency of flexible blade auto cooling fans.     

Vibration analysis of a new curved beam element

The common practice in developing a locking-free curved beam element is to ensure that its interpolation functions of displacement explicitly satisfy the inextensible bending mode condition for the membrane locking-free instead of the rigid body modes. In this paper, we study the impact of this practice on the dynamic characteristics of a finite element by conducting vibration analysis using our newly developed three-node locking-free curved beam element. In this case, the inextensible bending mode condition is satisfied explicitly, while the rigid body modes are satisfied implicitly to 4th-order accuracy. Numerical and experimental examples show that with the newly developed curved beam element, developed by using the implicit representation of a rigid body mode condition, it is possible to recover the rigid body modes of curved beams with low and medium slenderness ratios. This is even true for cases involving a half-circular element and the vibration of the curved beam is predicted with high accuracy.     

Vibration analysis of a beam with PCLD Patch

An analytical approach for vibration response analysis of a beam with single passive constrained layer damping (PCLD) patch is presented. The governing equation of motion of the beam is firstly derived on the basis of an energy approach and the Lagrange equation. The noval contribution is that a third admissible function is introduced to represent the longitudinal displacements of the constraining layer in the PCLD patch when the assumed-modes method is applied for discretizing the governing equation. In conventional analytical approaches, only two admissible functions are used together with a longitudinal static equilibrium equation of a section of base beam or constraining layer. Comparison of the computational results from the proposed analytical approach and the conventional analytical approach as well as a commercial FEM code reveals that the proposed analytical approach can describe the vibration responses of the damped beam more accurately for commonly used viscoelastic material (VEM) layer in the PCLD patch while the conventional analytical approach, in general, overestimates the damping effects of the PCLD patch. The advantages and disadvantages of the proposed analytical approach and conventional analytical approach are discussed through some case studies.     

Forced vibration of a damped sandwich beam subjected to moving forces

The response of a sandwich beam subjected to moving forces (constant as well as pulsating) is analyzed by the use of Fourier and Laplace transforms and compared with the response of an equivalent elastic beam. The results indicate that the critical speed of force on a sandwich beam is always greater than that on an elastic beam of identical mass per unit length and flexural rigidity, and depends on its geometric and shear parameters. For subcritical speeds, the maximum deflection of a sandwich beam is shown to occur earlier than that of an equivalent elastic beam. An increase in the core shear stiffness is shown to be beneficial in reducing the dynamic magnification of the central deflection of the sandwich beam.     

Flexural effects of sandwich beam with a plate insert under in-plane bending

The local stress concentrations in sandwich beam with a plate insert under in-plane bending are concerned in the study. An improved six-step phase shifting method in digital photoelasticity is employed to calculate the whole-field shear stress.The shear load transfer is realized by shear bands which connect the top and bottom sheet faces through adhesively-bonded interfaces. The plate insert plays a role in load transfer in the sandwich structure, and the fact that debonding might occur at more sites of the interfaces may also leads to the failure of the structure. The local stress concentrations at the insert end change with the load under three-point bending loads, while they remain as the initial residual shear stress under four-point bending loads. The local stress concentration effects generated by the plate insert is essentially caused by the mismatch of elastic properties of the core materials and the irrational geometry of the insert.     

Vibration suppression of a cantilever beam using magnetically tuned-mass-damper

Eddy currents are induced by the movement of a conductor through a stationary magnetic field or a time varying magnetic field through a stationary conductor. These currents circulate in the conductive material and are dissipated, causing a repulsive force between the magnet and the conductor. These electromagnetic forces can be used to suppress the vibrations of a flexible structure. A tuned mass damper is a device mounted in structures to reduce the amplitude of mechanical vibrations and is one of the effective vibration suppression methods. In the present study, an improved concept of this tuned mass damper for the vibration suppression of structures is introduced. This concept consists of the classical tuned mass damper and an eddy current damping. The important advantages of this magnetically tuned mass damper are that it is relatively simple to apply, it does not require any electronic devices and external power, and it is effective on the vibration suppression. The proposed concept is designed for a cantilever beam and the analytical studies on the eddy current damping and its effects on the vibration suppression. To show the effectiveness of the proposed concept and verify the eddy current damping model, experiments on a cantilever beam are performed. It is found that the proposed concept could significantly increase the damping effect of the tuned mass damper even if not adequately tuned.     

Vibration frequency of a curved beam with tip mass

In flexible blade auto cooling fans, the first vibration frequency is of fundamental importance. These fan blades are usually curved and have a tip mass in the form of a strip along one edge. For the first frequence, the blade can be modelled as a curved beam with a tip mass. This paper reports on an investigation of the vibration frequency of a curved beam with a tip mass, in which both theoretical finite element and experimental methods were used. In the finite element methods, both the normal and tangential displacements are approximated by cubic polynomials to ensure that rigid body displacements are closely represented. The effect of the tip mass is incorporated into the mass matrix. The results show that the curvature has a slight effect on the first mode natural frequencies but has great influence on the higher frequencies, and that the coupling effect between the tip mass and the curvature is insignificant.     

Vibration analysis and design optimization of viscoelastic sandwich cylindrical shell

Damping properties of viscoelastic sandwich structure can be improved by changing some parameters such as thickness of the layers, distribution of partial treatments, slippage between layers at the interfaces, cutting and its distribution at the top and core layers. Since the optimization problem may result in a thick core layer, for achieving more accuracy a new higher-order Taylor's expansion of transverse and in-plane displacement fields is developed for the core layer of sandwich cylindrical shell in which the displacement fields at the core layer are compatibly described in terms of the displacement fields at the elastic faces. The presented model includes fewer parameters than the previously developed models and therefore decreases the number of degree of freedom in the finite element modeling. The transverse normal stress in the core layer is also considered. The formulations are developed to consider the slippage between layers at the interfaces. Finally, by combining the finite element method and the optimization algorithms based on the genetic algorithm and sequential quadratic programming technique, a design optimization methodology has been formulated to maximize the damping characteristics using the optimal number and location of cuts and partial treatments with optimal thicknesses of top and core layers.     

Dynamic stability of a sandwich plate with a constraining layer and electrorheological fluid core

The dynamic stability problems of a sandwich plate with a constraining layer and an electrorheological (ER) fluid core subjected to an axial dynamic force are investigated. The rectangular plate is covered in an ER fluid core and a constraining layer to improve the stability of the system. Effects of the natural frequencies, static buckling loads, and loss factors on the dynamic stability behavior of the sandwich plate are studied in the paper. Rheological property of an ER material, such as viscosity, plasticity, and elasticity may be changed when applying an electric field. The modal damper and the natural frequencies for the sandwich plate are calculated for various electric fields. When an electric field is applied, the damping of the system is more effective. In this study, finite element method and the harmonic balance method are used to calculate the instability regions of the sandwich plate. The ER fluid core is found to have a significant effect on the dynamic stability regions.