Vibration modelling of helical springs with non-uniform ends

Helical springs constitute an integral part of many mechanical systems. Usually, a helical spring is modelled as a massless, frequency independent stiffness element. For a typical suspension spring, these assumptions are only valid in the quasi-static case or at low frequencies. At higher frequencies, the influence of the internal resonances of the spring grows and thus a detailed model is required. In some cases, such as when the spring is uniform, analytical models can be developed. However, in typical springs, only the central turns are uniform; the ends are often not (for example, having a varying helix angle or cross-section). Thus, obtaining analytical models in this case can be very difficult if at all possible. In this paper, the modelling of such non-uniform springs are considered. The uniform (central) part of helical springs is modelled using the wave and finite element (WFE) method since a helical spring can be regarded as a curved waveguide. The WFE model is obtained by post-processing the finite element (FE) model of a single straight or curved beam element using periodic structure theory. This yields the wave characteristics which can be used to find the dynamic stiffness matrix of the central turns of the spring. As for the non-uniform ends, they are modelled using the standard finite element (FE) method. The dynamic stiffness matrices of the ends and the central turns can be assembled as in standard FE yielding a FE/WFE model whose size is much smaller than a full FE model of the spring. This can be used to predict the stiffness of the spring and the force transmissibility. Numerical examples are presented.     

On the natural frequencies and mode shapes of a multispan Timoshenko beam carrying a number of various concentrated elements

The purpose of this paper is to utilize the numerical assembly method (NAM) to determine the exact natural frequencies and mode shapes of the multispan Timoshenko beam carrying a number of various concentrated elements including point masses, rotary inertias, linear springs, rotational springs and spring–mass systems. First, the coefficient matrices for an intermediate pinned support, an intermediate concentrated element, left- and right-end support of a Timoshenko beam are derived. Next, the overall coefficient matrix for the whole structural system is obtained using the numerical assembly technique of the finite element method. Finally, the exact natural frequencies and the associated mode shapes of the vibrating system are determined by equating the determinant of the last overall coefficient matrix to zero and substituting the corresponding values of integration constants into the associated eigenfunctions, respectively. The effects of distribution of in-span pinned supports and various concentrated elements on the dynamic characteristics of the Timoshenko beam are also studied.     

Dynamic stiffness vibration analysis of an elastically connected three-beam system

An exact dynamic stiffness method is developed for predicting the free vibration characteristics of a three-beam system, which is composed of three non-identical uniform beams of equal length connected by innumerable coupling springs and dashpots. The Bernoulli-Euler beam theory is used to define the beams’ dynamic behaviors. The dynamic stiffness matrix is formulated from the general solutions of the basic governing differential equations of a three-beam element in damped free vibration. The derived dynamic stiffness matrix is then used in conjunction with the automated Muller root search algorithm to calculate the free vibration characteristics of the three-beam systems. The numerical results are obtained for two sets of the stiffnesses of springs and a large variety of interesting boundary conditions.     

Free vibration analysis of non-cylindrical helical springs by the pseudospectral method

The pseudospectral method is applied to the free vibration analysis of non-cylindrical helical springs. The entire domain is considered as a single element and the displacements and the rotations are approximated by the sums of Chebyshev polynomials. The internal forces and moments are substituted to give six equations of motion, which are collocated to yield the system of algebraic equations. The boundary condition is considered as the constraints, and the set of equations is condensed so that the number of degrees of freedom of the problem matches the number of the expansion coefficients. Numerical examples are provided for clamped-clamped, free-free, clamped-free and hinged-hinged boundary conditions.     

Modal coupling effects in the free vibration of elastically interconnected beams

The problem of free vibration of a uniform beam elastically interconnected to a cantilevered beam, representing an idealized launch vehicle aeroelastic model in a wind tunnel, is studied. With elementary beam theory modelling, numerical results are obtained for the frequencies, mode shapes and the generalized modal mass of this elastically coupled system, for a range of values of the spring constants and cantilevered beam stiffness and inertia values. The study shows that when the linear springs are supported at the nodal points corresponding to the first free-free beam mode, the modal interaction comes primarily from the rotational spring stiffness. The effect of the linear spring stiffness on the higher model modes is also found to be marginal. However, the rotational stiffness has a significant effect on all the predominantly model modes as it couples the model deformations and the support rod deformations. The study also shows that through the variations in the stiffness or the inertia values of the cantilever beam affect only the predominantly cantilever modes, these variations become important because of the fact that the cantilevered support rod frequencies may come close to, or even cross over, the predominantly model mode frequencies. The results also bring out the fact that shifting of the support points away from the first mode nodal points has a maximum effect only on the first model mode.     

Free vibrations of spatial Timoshenko arches

This paper addresses the evaluation of the exact natural frequencies and vibration modes of structures obtained by assemblage of plane circular arched Timoshenko beams. The exact dynamic stiffness matrix of the single circular arch, in which both the in-plane and out-of-plane motions are taken into account, is derived in an useful dimensionless form by revisiting the mathematical approach already adopted by Howson and Jemah (1999 [18]), for the in plane and the out-of-plan natural frequencies of curved Timoshenko beams. The knowledge of the exact dynamic stiffness matrix of the single arch makes the direct evaluation of the exact global dynamic stiffness matrix of spatial arch structures possible. Furthermore, it allows the exact evaluation of the frequencies and the corresponding vibration modes, for the distributed parameter model, through the application of the Wittrick and Williams algorithm. Consistently with the dimensionless form proposed in the derivation of the equations of motion and the dynamic stiffness matrix, an original and extensive parametric analysis on the in-plane and out-of-plane dynamic behaviour of the single arch, for a wide range of structural and geometrical dimensionless parameters, has been performed. Moreover, some numerical applications, relative to the evaluation of exact frequencies and the corresponding mode shapes in spatial arched structures, are reported. The exact solution has been numerically validated by comparing the results with those obtained by a refined finite element simulation.     

Free vibration analysis of a cracked beam by finite element method

In this paper, the natural frequencies and mode shapes of a cracked beam are obtained using the finite element method. An ‘overall additional flexibility matrix’, instead of the ‘local additional flexibility matrix’, is added to the flexibility matrix of the corresponding intact beam element to obtain the total flexibility matrix, and therefore the stiffness matrix. Compared with analytical results, the new stiffness matrix obtained using the overall additional flexibility matrix can give more accurate natural frequencies than those resulted from using the local additional flexibility matrix. All the elements in the overall additional flexibility matrix are computed by 128-point (1D) or (128×128)-point (2D) Gauss quadrature, and then further best fitted using the least-squares method. The explicit form best-fitted formulas agree very well with the numerical integration results, and are very convenient for use and valuable for further reference. In addition, the authors constructed a shape function that can perfectly satisfy the local flexibility conditions at the crack locations, which can give more accurate vibration modes.     

An exact frequency analysis of annular plates with small core having elastically restrained outer edge and sliding inner edge

The present study deals with an exact analysis of free transverse vibrations of annular plates having small core and sliding inner edge and the outer edge being elastically restrained based on classical plate theory. This study focuses mainly on the influence of variations in the elastic restraint parameters on the fundamental frequencies of plate vibration. The natural frequencies for the first six modes of annular plate vibrations are computed for different materials and varying values of the radius parameter and these natural frequencies may correspond to either axisymmetric and/or non-axisymmetric modes of plate vibration. The extensive data of values of fundamental frequency parameter presented in this paper is believed to be of use in the design of acoustic underwater transducers, ocean and naval structures, compressor and pump elements, offshore platforms. These results may serve as bench mark values for researchers to validate their results obtained using approximate numerical methods.     

Higher order tapered beam finite elements for vibration analysis

In this paper, explicit for mass and stiffness matrices of two higher order tapered beam elements for vibration analysis are presented. One possesses three degrees of freedom per node and the other four degrees of freedom per node. The four degrees of freedom of the latter element are the displacement, slope, curvature and gradient of curvature. Thus, this element adequately represents all the physical situations involved in any combination of displacement, rotation, bending moment and shearing force. The explicit element mass and stiffness matrices eliminate the loss of computer time and round-off-errors associated with extensive matrix operations which are necessary in the numerical evaluation of these expressions. Comparisons with existing results in the literature concerning tapered cantilever beam structures with or without an end mass and its rotary inertia are made. The higher order tapered beam elements presented here are superior to the lower order one in that they offer more realistic representations of the curvature and loading history of the beam element. Furthermore, in general the eigenvalues obtained by employing the higher order elements converge more rapidly to the exact solution than those obtained by using lower order one.     

Dynamic behaviour of structures in large frequency range by continuous element methods

The continuous element method is presented in the context of the harmonic response of beam assemblies. A general formulation is described from the displacement solution of the elementary problem. A direct computation of elementary dynamic stiffness matrices is presented. In the present formulation, distributed loadings are taken into account. In the case of more complex geometries for which many coupling phenomena occur, an explicit formulation is no more conceivable. In this case, a numerical approach is presented. This approach allows an algorithmic computation of exact dynamic stiffness matrices. This method, called “Numerical Continuous Element”, allows one to consider the coupled vibrations of curved beams and those of helical beams. The validation of this numerical method is achieved by comparisons with the harmonic response of various beams obtained by a finite element approach. Finally, a comparison between eigenfrequencies obtained experimentally and numerically for a straight beam and a helical beam has been made to evaluate the performances of the method.     

Exact dynamic and static stiffness matrices of shear deformable thin-walled beam-columns

Total potential energy of non-symmetric thin-walled beam-columns in the general form is presented by introducing the displacement field based on semitangential rotations and deriving transformation equations between displacement and force parameters defined at the arbitrary axis and the centroid-shear center axis, respectively. Next, governing equations and force-deformation relations are derived from the total potential energy for a shear-deformable, uniform beam element and a system of linear eigenproblem with non-symmetric matrices is constructed based on 14 displacement parameters. And then explicit expressions for displacement parameters are derived and exact dynamic stiffness matrices are determined using force-deformatin relationships. In addition, the modified numerical method to eliminate multiple zero eigenvalues and to evaluate the exact static stiffness matrix is developed for spatial stability analysis. Finally, in order to demonstrate the validity and the accuracy of this study, the spatially coupled natural frequencies and buckling loads are evaluated and compared with analytical solutions or results analyzed by thin-walled beam elements and ABAQUS's shell elements.     

Influence of boundary stress singularities on the vibration of clamped and simply-supported sectorial plates with arbitrary radial edge conditions

This paper extends previous studies made for sectorial plates having re-entrant (i.e., interior) corners causing stress singularities, to provide accurate frequencies when the circular edge is either clamped or simply-supported. An extensive review of the literature is also given herein spanning nearly the past two decades explaining the free vibration characteristics of sectorial plates. In this work, the classical Ritz method is employed with two sets of admissible functions assumed for the transverse vibratory displacements. These sets include: (1) mathematically complete algebraic-trigonometric polynomials which guarantee convergence to exact frequencies as sufficient terms are retained and (2) corner functions which account for the bending moment singularities at the re-entrant vertex corner of the radial edges having arbitrary edge conditions. Extensive convergence studies summarized herein confirm that the corner functions substantially enhance the convergence and accuracy of non-dimensional frequencies for sectorial plates having either a clamped or hinged circumferential edge and various combinations of clamped, hinged, and free conditions on the radial edges. Accurate (to at least four significant figure) frequencies and normalized contours of the transverse vibratory displacement are presented for the spectra of sector angles [90°, 180° (semi-circular), 270°, 300°, 330°, 350°, 355°, 360° (complete circular)] causing a re-entrant vertex corner of the radial edges. For sector angles of 360°, a clamped-clamped, clamped-hinged, clamped-free, hinged-free or free-free radial crack ensues. One general observation is the substantial reduction in the first six frequencies as the sector angle increases for all plates, except in the first two modes of plates having free-free radial edges.     

Vibrations and buckling of a beam on a variable winkler elastic foundation

Two methods for solving the eigenvalue problems of vibrations and stability of a beam on a variable Winkler elastic foundation are presented and compared. The first is based on using the exact stiffness, consistent mass, and geometric stiffness matrices for a beam on a variable Winkler elastic foundation. The second method is based on adding an element foundation stiffness matrix to the regular beam stiffness matrix, for vibrations and stability analysis. With these matrices, it is possible to find the natural frequencies and mode shapes of vibrations, and buckling load and mode shape, by using a small number of segments. It is concluded that the use of the element foundation stiffness approach yields better convergence at lower computation costs.     

Improved eigenvalues for combined dynamical systems using a modified finite element discretization scheme

New approaches are presented to discretize an arbitrarily supported linear structure carrying various lumped attachments. Specifically, the exact eigendata, i.e., the exact natural frequencies and mode shapes, of the linear structure without the lumped attachments are first used to modify its finite element mass and stiffness matrix so that the eigensolutions of the discretized system coincide with the exact modes of vibration. This is achieved by identifying a set of minimum changes in the finite element system matrices and enforcing certain constraint conditions. Once the updated matrices for the linear structure are found, the finite element assembling technique is then used to include the lumped attachments by adding their parameters to the appropriate elements in the modified mass and stiffness matrices. Numerical experiments show that for the same number of elements, the proposed scheme returns higher natural frequencies that are substantially more accurate than those given by the finite element model. Alternatively, the proposed discretization scheme allows one to efficiently and accurately determine the higher natural frequencies of a combined system without increasing the number of elements in the finite element model.     

FREE VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF COMPOSITE RECTANGULAR MEMBRANES WITH AN OBLIQUE INTERFACE

The natural frequencies and mode shapes of a composite rectangular membrane with no exact solutions are found by using an analytical method appropriate for the geometric feature of the title problem membrane presented here. The method has a key feature in which the theoretical development is very simple and only a small amount of numerical calculation is required. Example studies show that the natural frequencies and their associated modes obtained from the method are found to be very accurate compared with the results by the FEM (SYSNOISE) or exact solutions. Furthermore, the natural frequencies converge rapidly and accurately to the exact values or the numerical results obtained from the finite element model using meshes sufficient to yield already converging natural frequencies, even when a small number of series functions are used in the proposed method.     

EXISTENCE OF NATURAL FREQUENCIES OF SYSTEMS WITH ARTIFICIAL RESTRAINTS AND THEIR CONVERGENCE IN ASYMPTOTIC MODELLING

A major limitation of the Rayleigh-Ritz method for determining the natural frequencies of a system is the need to choose admissible functions that do not violate the geometric constraints of that system (Courant 1943 Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society49, 1-23). Several researchers have attempted to overcome this problem by asymptotically modelling the rigid constraints with artificial (imaginary) restraints of very large stiffness (Courant 1943Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society49 , 1-23; Warburton and Edney 1984 Journal of Sound and Vibration95, 537-552; Gorman 1989 Journal of Applied Mechanics56, 893-899; Kim et al. 1990 Journal of Sound and Vibration143, 379-394; Yuan and Dickinson 1992 Journal of Sound and Vibration153, 203-216; Yuan and Dickinson 1992 Journal of Sound and Vibration159, 39-55; Cheng and Nicolas 1992 Journal of Sound and Vibration155, 231-247; Yuan and Dickinson 1994Computers and Structures53 , 327-334; Lee and Ng 1994 Applied Acoustics42, 151-163; Amabili and Garziera 1999 Journal of Sound and Vibration224, 519-539; Amabili and Garziera 2000 Journal of Fluids and Structures14, 669-690). While the numerical results thus obtained for the systems considered in the literature were in close agreement with exact values for the natural frequencies corresponding to the first few modes, sample calculations show that the error introduced by the asymptotic modelling increases with mode number and therefore to obtain accurate results for higher modes the magnitude of stiffness should also be increased. In any event, the error due to the asymptotic modelling would remain uncertain, except when the correct frequency values are known. However, the use of artificial restraints with negative stiffness, a new concept which was introduced in a recent publication (Ilanko and Dickinson 1999 Journal of Sound and Vibration219, 370-378) paves the way for estimating the error due to asymptotic modelling. This is possible since in this work, the Rayleigh-Ritz frequencies of the constrained system were found to be bracketed by the frequencies of the asymptotic models with positive and negative restraints. However, the use of artificial restraints with negative stiffness has raised some important questions: would a system with a large negative restraint become unstable, and if so what is the guarantee that the frequencies of the asymptotic model would converge to that of the constrained system? This paper is the result of the author's attempt to answer these questions and gives a proof of existence of natural frequencies for systems with artificial restraints (springs) having positive or negative stiffness coefficients, and their convergence towards constrained systems. Based on Rayleigh's theorem of separation, it has been shown that a vibratory system obtained by the addition of h restraints to an n -degree-of-freedom (d.o.f.) system, where h<n, will have at least (n÷h) natural frequencies and modes and that as the magnitude of the stiffness of the added restraints becomes very large, these (n÷h) natural frequencies will converge to the (n÷h) natural frequencies of a constrained system in which the displacements restrained by the springs are effectively constrained.     

A new hybrid cylindrical shell finite element

An assumed stress distribution is used to derive the stiffness matrix for a rectangular cylindrical shell element. A numerical method is given for selecting the required number of terms in the stress assumption. A selection of various static and dynamic results are presented and compared with results obtained by exact theory and other finite elements.     

Natural frequencies of axial-torsional coupled motion in springs and composite bars

The natural frequencies corresponding to axial-torsional (extension-twist) coupled motion of a helical spring, or the corresponding motion induced through material coupling in a composite bar, are considered using an equivalent continuum approach. Closed form solution of the governing differential equations leads either to an exact dynamic stiffness matrix or to a number of exact relationships between the natural frequencies corresponding to coupled and uncoupled motion. The latter relationships both guarantee that the Wittrick-Williams root finding algorithm can still be used to converge on any required natural frequency, despite any lack of reciprocity arising from differential coupling, and for the case of symmetric material coupling coefficients, enable their value to be determined precisely from experimental results. A number of examples are then given to confirm the accuracy of the proposed theory and to indicate its range of application.     

Dynamic stiffness method for inplane free vibration of rotating beams including Coriolis effects

The paper addresses the in-plane free vibration analysis of rotating beams using an exact dynamic stiffness method. The analysis includes the Coriolis effects in the free vibratory motion as well as the effects of an arbitrary hub radius and an outboard force. The investigation focuses on the formulation of the frequency dependent dynamic stiffness matrix to perform exact modal analysis of rotating beams or beam assemblies. The governing differential equations of motion, derived from Hamilton's principle, are solved using the Frobenius method. Natural boundary conditions resulting from the Hamiltonian formulation enable expressions for nodal forces to be obtained in terms of arbitrary constants. The dynamic stiffness matrix is developed by relating the amplitudes of the nodal forces to those of the corresponding responses, thereby eliminating the arbitrary constants. Then the natural frequencies and mode shapes follow from the application of the Wittrick–Williams algorithm. Numerical results for an individual rotating beam for cantilever boundary condition are given and some results are validated. The influences of Coriolis effects, rotational speed and hub radius on the natural frequencies and mode shapes are illustrated.     

Nonlinear Analysis of Rotational Springs to Model Semi-Rigid Frames

This paper explains the mathematical foundations of a method for modelling semi-rigid unions. The unions are modelled using rotational rather than linear springs. A nonlinear second-order analysis is required, which includes both the effects of the flexibility of the connections as well as the geometrical nonlinearity of the elements. The first task in the implementation of a 2D Beam element with semi-rigid unions in a nonlinear finite element method (FEM) is to define the vector of internal forces and the tangent stiffness matrix. After defining the formula for this vector and matrix in the context of a semi-rigid steel frame, an iterative adjustment of the springs is proposed. This setting allows a moment–rotation relationship for some given load parameters, dimensions, and unions. Modelling semi-rigid connections is performed using Frye and Morris’ polynomial model. The polynomial model has been used for type-4 semi-rigid joints (end plates without column stiffeners), which are typically semi-rigid with moderate structural complexity and intermediate stiffness characteristics. For each step in a non-linear analysis required to adjust the matrix of tangent stiffness, an additional adjustment of the springs with their own iterative process subsumed in the overall process is required. Loops are used in the proposed computational technique. Other types of connections, dimensions, and other parameters can be used with this method. Several examples are shown in a correlated analysis to demonstrate the efficacy of the design process for semi-rigid joints, and this is the work’s application content. It is demonstrated that using the mathematical method presented in this paper, semi-rigid connections may be implemented in the designs while the stiffness of the connection is verified.