VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF STRUCTURES WITH ROTATION AND REFLECTION SYMMETRY

The article applies group representation theory to the vibration analy sis of structures with C-nv symmetry, and presents a new structural vi bration analysis method. The eigenvalue problem of the whole structure is divided into much smaller subproblems by forming the mass and stif fness matrices of one substructure and than modifying them to form mas s and stiffness matrices in each irreducible subspace, resulting in th e saving of computer time and memory. The modal characteristics of str uctures with C-nv symmetry are derived from theoretical analysis. Comp utation and modal testing are used to verify the validity of the theor etical deductions. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.