DYNAMIC STUDIES ON BEAMS WITH UNCONSTRAINED LAYER DAMPING TREATMENT

The dynamics of a beam treated with an unconstrained damping layer are investigated. The damping layer is applied either uniformly or in a d istributed fashion. The effect of the distributed damping layer treatm ent on the dynamic displacement and the stresses are studied. The beam is subjected to a point harmonic excitation at the first three natura l frequencies. It is found that the use of a distributed layer damping treatment can reduce the requirement of added material considerably. Or, in other words, a considerable amount of reduction in the dynamic stresses and the dynamic displacements can be obtained for the same am ount of added damping layer material. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited