Finite amplitude, free vibrations of an axisymmetric load supported by a highly elastic tubular shear spring

The finite amplitude, free vibrational characteristics of a simple mechanical system consisting of an axisymmetric rigid body supported by a highly elastic tubular shear spring subjected to axial, rotational, and coupled shearing motions are studied. Two classes of elastic tube materials are considered: a compressible material whose shear response is constant, and an incompressible material whose shear response is a quadratic function of the total amount of shear. The class of materials with constant shear response includes the incompressible Mooney-Rivlin material and certain compressible Blatz-Ko, Hadamard, and other general kinds of models. For each material class, the quasi-static elasticity problem is solved to determine the telescopic and gyratory shearing deformation functions needed to evaluate the elastic tube restoring force and torque exerted on the body. For all materials with constant shear response, the differential equations of motion are uncoupled equations typical of simple harmonic oscillators. Hence, exact solutions for the forced vibration of the system can be readily obtained; and for this class, engineering design formulae for the load-deflection relations are discussed and compared with experimental results of others'. For the quadratic material, however, the general motion of the body is characterized by a formidable, coupled system of nonlinear equations. The free, coupled shearing motion for which either the axial or the azimuthal shear deformation may be small is governed by a pair of equations of the Duffing and Hill types. On the other hand, the finite amplitude, pure axial and pure rotational motions of the load are described by the classical, nonlinear Duffing equation alone. A variety of problems are solved exactly for these separate free vibrational modes, and a number of physical results are presented throughout.