Medium Frequency Vibration Analysis of Beam Structures Modeled by the Timoshenko Beam Theory

Vibration analysis of complex structures at medium frequencies plays an important role in automotive engineering. Flexible beam structures modeled by the classical Euler-Bernoulli beam theory have been widely used in many engineering problems. A kinematic hypothesis in the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is that plane sections of a beam normal to its neutral axis remain normal when the beam experiences bending deformation, which neglects the shear deformation of the beam. However, as observed by researchers, the shear deformation of a beam component becomes noticeable in high-frequency vibrations. In this sense, the Timoshenko beam theory, which describes both bending deformation and shear deformation, may be more suitable for medium-frequency vibration analysis of beam structures. This paper presents an analytical method for medium-frequency vibration analysis of beam structures, with components modeled by the Timoshenko beam theory. The proposed method is developed based on the augmented Distributed Transfer Function Method (DTFM), which has been shown to be useful in various vibration problems. The proposed method models a Timoshenko beam structure by a spatial state-space formulation in the s-domain, without any discretization. With the state-space formulation, the frequency response of a beam structure, in any frequency region (from low to very high frequencies), can be obtained in an exact and analytical form. One advantage of the proposed method is that the local information of a beam structure, such as displacements, bending moment and shear force at any location, can be directly obtained from the space-state formulation, which otherwise would be very difficult with energy-based methods. The medium-frequency analysis by the augmented DTFM is validated with the FEA in numerical examples, where the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method is present. Also, the effects of shear deformation on the dynamic behaviors of a beam structure at medium frequencies are illustrated through comparison of the Timoshenko beam theory and the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory.