TRANSFER STIFFNESS COEFFICIENT METHOD COMBINED WITH CONCEPT OF SUBSTRUCTURE SYNTHESIS METHOD (LINEAR FREE AND FORCED VIBRATION ANALYSES OF A STRAIGHT-LINE BEAM STRUCTURE)

The transfer stiffness coefficient method was developed in order to im prove the computation efficiency and extend the applicability of the t ransfer influence coefficient method through introduction of the conce pt of the substructure synthesis method. In the new method, the struct ure to be analyzed is divided into substructures, each of which is div ided into a number of identical fundamental elements. Each substructur e is reconstructed by connection of the fundamental elements and the c omputation cost is markedly reduced by elimination of the degrees of f reedom at the inner nodes of substructures in the process of reconstru ction. In addition, the computation procedure, which is the same as th at in the transfer influence coefficient method, is applied to the ent ire structure reconstructed from the substructures, for even greater i mprovement of the computation efficiency. As the most fundamental exam ple of use of the present method, an algorithm is formulated for free and forced vibration analyses of a straight-line beam structure. The v alidity of the present method is confirmed by the results of numerical computation.