Pitch change during reverberant decay

The natural frequencies and mode shapes of a number of box beams are calculated by using the finite element displacement method. The structures are considered as assemblages of plates, and in general it is necessary to consider both the in-plane and transverse motion of the plates. A method of representing these two types of motion in the analysis of the vibrations of box beams is presented. A number of box beams of varying sectional parameters are analysed as systems of plates and the results compared with the predictions of Euler and Timoshenko beam theories. The comparisons show that for short beams constructed of thin plates, the new method can successfully represent the localized plate deformations, which cannot be described by beam theory.