Structural waveguide behaviour of a beam–plate system

Structures which have a constant cross-section normal to a longitudinal axis can be considered as waveguides in which vibration can propagate in the form of various waves in the longitudinal direction. The dynamic behaviour of such systems can be found by using a Fourier transform approach in terms of wavenumbers in the longitudinal direction. Analytical solutions are available for simple, infinitely long waveguides, whereas for more complex waveguides numerical approaches have been developed using finite element techniques to describe the cross-section. In the present paper an analytical Fourier transform approach is used to find the dynamic behaviour of a system consisting of two parallel beams coupled by a plate, when a point force is applied to one of the beams. Multiple waves occur in the longitudinal direction, the number of waves depending on the number of modes of the equivalent cross-section. However, the motion of the driven beam is shown to be dominated by the contribution from only one or two waves at each frequency, these having wavenumbers closest to that of the uncoupled beam. The motion of the plate is also shown to be dominated by these wavenumbers for excitation on the beam. Experimental results are obtained on beam–plate–beam systems with identical and non-identical beams, which show good agreement with the predictions. In particular, these confirm that the plate response is dominated by waves with wavenumbers in the beam direction that follow those of the excited beam.