Vibrations and Power Flows in a Coupled Beam System

Abstract

Vibrations of and power flow between coupled beams have been the subject of many investigations, and various techniques have been developed over the years. However, most of the existing methods will require a certain level of modifications or adaptations to account for the variations in the coupling and∕or boundary conditions. In this study, a general analytical method is developed for predicting the vibrations of and power flow between two-coupled beams. The coupling between the beams is generically represented by two (translational and rotational) springs of arbitrary stiffnesses. Thus, many rigid and nonrigid connectors of practical interest can be directly taken into account. In addition, because the beams are elastically restrained at each end, the current method can be universally applied to different boundary conditions by simply varying the stiffnesses of the boundary springs. Numerical results are presented to show the excellent accuracy of the proposed approach.