UNCOUPLED FLEXURAL VIBRATIONS OF STRAIGHT BEAMS WITH ALL POSSIBLE BOUNDARY-CONDITIONS TREATED BY A TRANSFER-MATRIX METHOD

A computer code is developed to furnish the details of the frequencies , mode shapes (displacement, slope, shear force and bending moment) an d generalized masses for the uncoupled flexural vibrations of straight beams with all possible boundary conditions, accounting for complicat ing effects such as shear deformation, rotary inertia, variable axial loading and flexibility of supports. A transfer matrix procedure has b een used in developing the code. The results produced by the presently developed code are validated by comparison with exact solutions devel oped in this paper for certain cases, and also with the results availa ble in the published literature. The code is shown to produce results of excellent accuracy, and it is believed that it will be useful to th e designer in obtaining dependable results for fairly complex beam geo metries with discontinuities in mass and stiffness distributions, supp ort flexibilities and variable axial loads. (C) 1997 Academic Press Li mited.