Nonlinear vibrations of clamped-free circular cylindrical shells

Only experimental studies are available on large-amplitude vibrations of clamped-free shells. In the present study, large-amplitude nonlinear vibrations of clamped-free circular cylindrical shell are numerically investigated for the first time. Shells with perfect and imperfect shape are studied. The Sanders-Koiter nonlinear shell theory is used to calculate the elastic strain energy. Shell displacement fields (longitudinal, circumferential and radial) are expanded by means of a double mixed series, i.e. harmonic functions for the circumferential variable and Chebyshev polynomials for the longitudinal variable. All boundary conditions are satisfied. The system is discretized by using natural modes of the shell and Lagrange equations by an energy approach, retaining damping through Rayleigh's dissipation function. Different expansions involving from 18 to 52 generalized coordinates are used to study the convergence of the solution. The nonlinear equations of motion are numerically studied by using arclength continuation method and bifurcation analysis. Numerical responses to harmonic radial excitation in the spectral neighborhood of the lowest natural frequency are compared with experimental results available in literature. The effect of geometric imperfections and excitation amplitude are numerically investigated and fully explained.     

Some approximations in the linear dynamic equations of thin cylinders

Theoretical analysis is performed on the linear dynamic equations of thin cylindrical shells to find the error committed by making the Donnell assumption and the neglect of in-plane inertia. At first, the effect of these approximations is studied on a shell with classical simply supported boundary condition. The same approximations are then investigated for other boundary conditions from a consistent approximate solution of the eigenvalue problem. The Donnell assumption is valed at frequencies high compared with the ring frequencies, for finite length thin shells. The error in the eigenfrequencies from omitting tangential inertia is appreciable for modes with large circumferential and axial wave lengths, independent of shell thickness and boundary conditions.     

Effect of elastic end rings on the eigenfrequencies of thin cylinders

The effect of elastic end rings on the eigenfrequencies of thin cylindrical shells is studied by using an exact solution of the linear eigenvalue problem. The out-of-plane and torsional rigidities of the rings are responsible for the overall shell stiffness. Considerable mode interaction exists for modes with low circumferential wave numbers when the mass of the ring is comparable with that of the shell. The hypothetical simply supported and clamped boundary conditions are practically impossible to realize with a finite-mass ring for relatively short and thin shells.     

A comparison of shell theories for large-amplitude vibrations of circular cylindrical shells: Lagrangian approach

Large-amplitude (geometrically non-linear) vibrations of circular cylindrical shells subjected to radial harmonic excitation in the spectral neighbourhood of the lowest resonances are investigated. The Lagrange equations of motion are obtained by an energy approach, retaining damping through Rayleigh's dissipation function. Four different non-linear thin shell theories, namely Donnell's, Sanders-Koiter, Flügge-Lur’e-Byrne and Novozhilov's theories, which neglect rotary inertia and shear deformation, are used to calculate the elastic strain energy. The formulation is also valid for orthotropic and symmetric cross-ply laminated composite shells. The large-amplitude response of perfect and imperfect, simply supported circular cylindrical shells to harmonic excitation in the spectral neighbourhood of the lowest natural frequency is computed for all these shell theories. Numerical responses obtained by using these four non-linear shell theories are also compared to results obtained by using the Donnell's non-linear shallow-shell equation of motion. A validation of calculations by comparison with experimental results is also performed. Both empty and fluid-filled shells are investigated by using a potential fluid model. The effects of radial pressure and axial load are also studied. Boundary conditions for simply supported shells are exactly satisfied. Different expansions involving from 14 to 48 generalized co-ordinates, associated with natural modes of simply supported shells, are used. The non-linear equations of motion are studied by using a code based on an arclength continuation method allowing bifurcation analysis.     

Theory and experiments for large-amplitude vibrations of empty and fluid-filled circular cylindrical shells with imperfections

The large-amplitude response of perfect and imperfect, simply supported circular cylindrical shells to harmonic excitation in the spectral neighbourhood of some of the lowest natural frequencies is investigated. Donnell's non-linear shallow-shell theory is used and the solution is obtained by the Galerkin method. Several expansions involving 16 or more natural modes of the shell are used. The boundary conditions on the radial displacement and the continuity of circumferential displacement are exactly satisfied. The effect of internal quiescent, incompressible and inviscid fluid is investigated. The non-linear equations of motion are studied by using a code based on the arclength continuation method. A series of accurate experiments on forced vibrations of an empty and water-filled stainless-steel shell have been performed. Several modes have been intensively investigated for different vibration amplitudes. A closed loop control of the force excitation has been used. The actual geometry of the test shell has been measured and the geometric imperfections have been introduced in the theoretical model. Several interesting non-linear phenomena have been experimentally observed and numerically reproduced, such as softening-type non-linearity, different types of travelling wave response in the proximity of resonances, interaction among modes with different numbers of circumferential waves and amplitude-modulated response. For all the modes investigated, the theoretical and experimental results are in strong agreement.     

Free vibration of non-circular cylindrical shells with longitudinal interior partitions

An analysis is presented for the free vibration of a simply supported non-circular cylindrical shell with longitudinal interior partitions. For this purpose, the governing equations of vibration of a non-circular cylindrical shell including a plate as special case are written in a matrix differential equation by using the transfer matrix in the circumferential direction. Once the matrix has been determined, the entire structure matrix is obtained by the product of the transfer matrix of the shell and the point matrix at the joint of the structure matrix. The method is applied to approximately elliptical cylindrical shells with an interior plate, and the natural frequencies and the mode shapes of vibration are calculated numerically, giving the results.     

Nonlinear stability of cylindrical shells subjected to axial flow: Theory and experiments

This paper, is concerned with the nonlinear dynamics and stability of thin circular cylindrical shells clamped at both ends and subjected to axial fluid flow. In particular, it describes the development of a nonlinear theoretical model and presents theoretical results displaying the nonlinear behaviour of the clamped shell subjected to flowing fluid. The theoretical model employs the Donnell nonlinear shallow shell equations to describe the geometrically nonlinear structure. The clamped beam eigenfunctions are used to describe the axial variations of the shell deformation, automatically satisfying the boundary conditions and the circumferential continuity condition exactly. The fluid is assumed to be incompressible and inviscid, and the fluid–structure interaction is described by linear potential flow theory. The partial differential equation of motion is discretized using the Galerkin method and the final set of ordinary differential equations are integrated numerically using a pseudo-arclength continuation and collocation techniques and the Gear backward differentiation formula. A theoretical model for shells with simply supported ends is presented as well. Experiments are also described for (i) elastomer shells subjected to annular (external) air-flow and (ii) aluminium and plastic shells with internal water flow. The experimental results along with the theoretical ones indicate loss of stability by divergence with a subcritical nonlinear behaviour. Finally, theory and experiments are compared, showing good qualitative and reasonable quantitative agreement.     

考虑铺层角的复合材料圆柱壳自由振动三维弹性准确解

为了获得任意角度铺层的多层复合材料圆柱壳的自由振动准确解,在三维弹性理论的基础上,结合分层理论和状态空间法,建立横向位移和应力的传递矩阵,轴向和环向位移采用双螺旋模式的位移函数,对任意角度铺层复合材料圆柱壳简支边界条件下的自由振动进行了理论推导,得到了自由振动方程的精确形式。与文献理论解和有限元计算结果对比,结果表明,关注频率在2倍的环频率以下时,薄壳的固有频率计算精度能控制在1%以内,厚壳的固有频率计算精度能控制在2%以内。对于厚壳的计算可将壳体沿厚度方向划分为多层来处理,这样能有效提高计算精度。计算分析了铺层角对壳体固有频率的影响,环向模态数较低时,固有频率随着铺层角的增加呈抛物线变化趋势;环向模态数较高时,固有频率随着铺层角的增大单调递增。该理论方法同样适用于均质各向同性壳和正交各向异性圆柱壳。      

Nonlinear vibration of functionally graded circular cylindrical shells based on improved Donnell equations

In the present work, the study of the nonlinear vibration of a functionally graded cylindrical shell subjected to axial and transverse mechanical loads is presented. Material properties are graded in the thickness direction of the shell according to a simple power law distribution in terms of volume fractions of the material constituents. Governing equations are derived using improved Donnell shell theory ignoring the shallowness of cylindrical shells and kinematic nonlinearity is taken into consideration. One-term approximate solution is assumed to satisfy simply supported boundary conditions. The Galerkin method, the Volmir's assumption and fourth-order Runge–Kutta method are used for dynamical analysis of shells to give explicit expressions of natural frequencies, nonlinear frequency–amplitude relation and nonlinear dynamic responses. Numerical results show the effects of characteristics of functionally graded materials, pre-loaded axial compression and dimensional ratios on the dynamical behavior of shells. The proposed results are validated by comparing with those in the literature.     

A GROUP THEORETIC APPROACH TO THE LINEAR FREE VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF SHELLS WITH DIHEDRAL SYMMETRY

This paper deals with a group theoretic approach to the finite element analysis of linear free vibrations of shells with dihedral symmetry. Examples of such shell structures are cylindrical shells, conical shells, shells with circumferential stiffeners, corrugated shells, spherical shells, etc. The group theoretic approach is used to exploit the inherent symmetry in the problem. For vibration analysis, the group theoretic results give the correct symmetry-adapted basis for the displacement field. The stiffness matrix K and the mass matrix M are identically block diagonalized in this basis. The generalized linear eigenvalue problem of free vibration gets split into independent subproblems due to this block diagonalization. The Simo element is used in the finite element formulation of the shell equilibrium equations. Numerical results for natural frequencies and natural modes of vibration of several dihedral shell structures are presented. The results are shown to be in very good agreement with those reported in the literature. The computational advantages and physical insights due to the group theoretic approach are also discussed.     

Nonlinear dynamics of harmonically excited circular cylindrical shells containing fluid flow

In the present study, the geometrically nonlinear vibrations of circular cylindrical shells, subjected to internal fluid flow and to a radial harmonic excitation in the spectral neighbourhood of one of the lowest frequency modes, are investigated for different flow velocities. The shell is modelled by Donnell's nonlinear shell theory, retaining in-plane inertia and geometric imperfections; the fluid is modelled as a potential flow with the addition of unsteady viscous terms obtained by using the time-averaged Navier-Stokes equations. A harmonic concentrated force is applied at mid-length of the shell, acting in the radial direction. The shell is considered to be immersed in an external confined quiescent liquid and to contain a fluid flow, in order to reproduce conditions in previous water-tunnel experiments. For the same reason, complex boundary conditions are applied at the shell ends simulating conditions intermediate between clamped and simply supported ends. Numerical results obtained by using pseudo-arclength continuation methods and bifurcation analysis show the nonlinear response at different flow velocities for (i) a fixed excitation amplitude and variable excitation frequency, and (ii) fixed excitation frequency by varying the excitation amplitude. Bifurcation diagrams of Poincaré maps obtained from direct time integration are presented, as well as the maximum Lyapunov exponent, in order to classify the system dynamics. In particular, periodic, quasi-periodic, sub-harmonic and chaotic responses have been detected. The full spectrum of the Lyapunov exponents and the Lyapunov dimension have been calculated for the chaotic response; they reveal the occurrence of large-dimension hyperchaos.     

Vibration of simply supported cylindrical shells with longitudinal stiffeners

The vibration of simply supported cylindrical shells stiffened by discrete longitudinal stiffeners is investigated by using an energy method. Vlasov's thin walled beam theory is used for stringers. Shell theories based on Donnell's approximate theory and Flügge's more exact theory are used for the skin and numerical results indicate that Donnell's approximate theory gives excellent results for the stiffened shells. Sinusoidal wave form is considered in the longitudinal direction, and mode shapes in the circumferential direction are represented by Fourier series. Numerical results on frequencies and mode shapes computed for a shell stiffened by various number of stiffeners are presented and compared favorably with existing experimental results and other analytical solutions.     

Vibrations of segmented cylindrical shells by a fourier series component mode method

The vibrations of a multi-segment cylindrical shell with a common mean radius are studied. The shell is uniform for any segment but the material and geometric properties may vary from segment to segment. The solution is based on the component mode method coupled with Fourier series and Lagrange multipliers. It is shown that a single segment shell with boundary conditions of free support without tangential constraint is sufficient for an arbitrary shell with arbitrary boundary conditions. Results are presented for simply supported shells and clamped-free shells for two segments with different length and thickness.     

Natural frequencies and modes of open cylindrical shells with a circumferential thickness taper

An analytical procedure to estimate not only the natural frequencies but also modes of open cylindrical shells with a circumferential thickness taper by the transfer matrix method is presented. The transfer matrix is derived from the non-linear differential equations for the cylindrical shells by numerical integration. The accuracy and convergence characteristics of this method are investigated, and the natural frequencies and modes of open cylindrical shells with a circumferential thickness taper are presented for various curvatures, aspect ratios, boundary conditions and thickness ratios. Furthermore, the influences of thickness variation of the cross-section on the natural frequencies and modes are examined.     

Dynamic analysis of layered composite shells using nine node degenerate shell elements

The basic objective of the work reported in this paper is to extend a nine-node degenerated shell element developed earlier for stress analysis to the free vibration analysis of thick laminated composites. The nine-noded degenerated shell element is preferable to conventional solid elements for the modeling and analysis of laminated composite shell structures since the shell element works for both thick and thin shells. An enhanced interpolation of the transverse shear strains in the natural coordinates is used in this formulation to produce a shear locking free element and an enhanced interpolation of the membrane strains in the local coordinates is used to produce a membrane locking free element. The interpolation functions used in formulating the assumed strains are based on the Lagrangian interpolation polynomials. Various numerical examples are analyzed and their results are compared with the existing exact solutions where available and the numerical solutions calculated from other shell finite element formulations, to benchmark the current formulation.     

GENERALIZED DIFFERENTIAL QUADRATURE METHOD FOR THE FREE VIBRATION OF TRUNCATED CONICAL PANELS

This paper presents an improved generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method for the investigation of the effects of boundary conditions on the free vibration characteristics of truncated conical panels. The truncated conical panel is an important geometrical shape in the fields of aerospace, marine and structural engineering. However, despite this importance, few works in free vibration analysis have dealt with this particular geometry. In this work, the vibration characteristics of clamped and simply supported truncated conical shells are obtained for various circumferential wave numbers. Further, the effects of the vertex and subtended angles on the frequency parameters are also examined in detail. Due to limited published results in the open literature, results for a range of cases are compared with those generated from the commercial finite element solver McNeal-Schwendler Corporation Nastran, and excellent agreement is observed.     

Free vibration study of layered cylindrical shells by collocation with splines

The free vibration of circular cylindrical thin shells, made up of uniform layers of isotropic or specially orthotropic materials, is studied using point collocation method and employing spline function approximations. The equations of motion for the shell are derived by extending Love's first approximation theory. Assuming the solution in a separable form a system of coupled differential equations, in the longitudinal, circumferential and transverse displacement functions, is obtained. These functions are approximated by Bickley-type splines of suitable orders. The process of point collocation with suitable boundary conditions results in a generalized eigenvalue problem from which the values of a frequency parameter and the corresponding mode shapes of vibration, for specified values of the other parameters, are obtained. Two types of boundary conditions and four types of layers are considered. The effect of neglecting the coupling between the flexural and extensional displacements is analysed. The influences of the relative layer thickness, a length parameter and a total thickness parameter on the frequencies are studied. Both axisymmetric and asymmetric vibrations are investigated. The effect of the circumferential node number on the vibrational behaviour of the shell is also analysed.     

MICRO-SENSING CHARACTERISTICS AND MODAL VOLTAGES OF LINEAR/NON-LINEAR TOROIDAL SHELLS

Toroidal shells belong to the shells of revolution family. Dynamic sensing signals and their distributed characteristics of spatially distributed sensors or neurons laminated on thin toroidal shell structures are investigated in this study. Spatially distributed modal voltages and signal patterns are related to the meridional and circumferential membrane/bending strains, based on the direct piezoelectricity, the Gauss theorem, the Maxwell principle and the open-circuit assumption; linear and non-linear toroidal shells are defined based on the thin shell theory and the von Karman geometric non-linearity. With the simplified mode shape functions defined by the Donnell-Mushtari-Vlasov theory, modal-dependent distributed signals and detailed signal components of spatially distributed sensors or neurons are defined and these signals are quantitatively illustrated. Signal distributions basically reveal distinct modal characteristics of toroidal shells. Parametric studies suggest that the dominating signal component results from the meridional membrane strains. Shell dimensions, materials, boundary conditions, natural modes, sensor locations/distributions/sizes, modal strain components, etc., all influence the spatially distributed modal voltages and signal generations.     

Parametric resonance of truncated conical shells rotating at periodically varying angular speed

Parametric resonance of a truncated conical shell rotating at periodically varying angular speed is studied in this paper. Based upon the Love?s thin shell theory and generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method, the equations of motion of a rotating conical shell are derived. The time-dependent rotating speed is assumed to be a small and sinusoidal perturbation superimposed upon a constant speed. Considering the periodically rotating speed, the conical shell system is a parametric excited system of the Mathieu–Hill type. The improved Hill?s method is utilized for parametric instability analysis. Both the primary and combination instability regions for various natural modes and boundary conditions are obtained numerically. The effects of relative amplitude and constant part of periodically rotating speed and cone angle on the instability regions are discussed in detail. It is shown that for the natural mode with lower circumferential wavenumber, only the primary instability regions exist. With the increasing circumferential wavenumber, the instability widths are reduced significantly and the combination instability region might appear. The results for different boundary conditions are substantially similar. Increasing the constant rotating speed (or cone angle) all lead to the movements of instability regions and the appearance of combination instability region. The former will cause the instability width increasing, while the latter will reduce the instability width. The variation of length-to-radius ratio only causes the movements of instability regions.     

Numerical stability analysis for the explicit high-order finite difference analysis of rotationally symmetric shells

A numerical stability analysis has been formulated to accompany the already developed explicit high-order finite difference analysis of rotationally symmetric shells subjected to time-dependent impulsive loadings. This already developed analysis utilizes a constant nodal point spacing for the spatial finite difference mesh, with the governing field differential equations formulated in terms of the transverse, meridional, and circumferential displacements as the fundamental variables. The remaining quantities which enter into the natural boundary conditions at each edge of the shell are incorporated into the complete system of equations by defining those quantities at each boundary in terms of the displacements. Surface loadings and inertia forces in each of the three displacement directions of the shell have been considered in the governing equations. Ordinary finite difference representations are used for the time derivatives. All loadings and dependent variables in the circumferential direction of the shell are expressed in Fourier series expansions. The complete system of equations is solved implicitly for the first time increment, while explicit relations are used to determine the three primary displacements within the boundary edges of the shell for the second and succeeding time increments. Separate implicit solutions at each boundary are then used to determine the remaining unspecified primary variables on and outside the boundaries. Subsequently, the remaining primary variables within the boundary edges of the shell and all secondary variables are determined explicitly. Numerical stability (or instability) of numerical solutions for given choices of spatial and time increments is determined by evaluation of the eigenvalues of the explicit coefficient matrix and comparing the maximum eigenvalue with the requirements of a stability criterion developed before by the author. Solutions for typical shells and loadings together with results of stability analyses have been included, and comparisons of the stability requirements and solutions with the requirements and solutions based upon ordinary spatial finite difference representations are included.